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Vladimir Antonov

Project Skybender: Google's secretive 5G internet drone tests revealed | Technology | T... - 0 views

  • Google is testing solar-powered drones at Spaceport America in New Mexico to explore ways to deliver high-speed internet from the air
  • Project SkyBender is using drones to experiment with millimetre-wave radio transmissions, one of the technologies that could underpin next generation 5G wireless internet access
  • High frequency millimetre waves can theoretically transmit gigabits of data every second, up to 40 times more than today’s 4G LTE systems. Google ultimately envisages thousands of high altitude “self-flying aircraft” delivering internet access around the world.
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  • “The huge advantage of millimetre wave is access to new spectrum because the existing cellphone spectrum is overcrowded. It’s packed and there’s nowhere else to go,” says Jacques Rudell
  • However, millimetre wave transmissions have a much shorter range than mobile phone signals. A broadcast at 28GHz, the frequency Google is testing at Spaceport America, would fade out in around a tenth the distance of a 4G phone signal. To get millimetre wave working from a high-flying drone, Google needs to experiment with focused transmissions from a so-called phased array. “This is very difficult, very complex and burns a lot of power,” Rudell says
  • The SkyBender system is being tested with an “optionally piloted” aircraft called Centaur as well as solar-powered drones made by Google Titan, a division formed when Google acquired New Mexico startup Titan Aerospace in 2014. Titan built high-altitude solar-powered drones with wingspans of up to 50 metres
  • Project SkyBender is part of the little-known Google Access team, which also includes Project Loon, a plan to deliver wireless internet using unpowered balloons floating through the stratosphere.
  • In 2014, Darpa, the research arm of the US military, announced a program called Mobile Hotspots to make a fleet of drones that could provide one gigabit per second communications for troops operating in remote areas.
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    Could this be a next gen. technology that would bring hi-speed internet access literally to every place in the world?
Maria Gurova

Tesla's Model S Has New Autopilot Tech--And I Just Sat Behind The Wheel | Fast Company ... - 0 views

  • Tesla is rolling out version 7.0 of its software, and with it new autopilot features that allow the car to stay in its lane, change lanes, and parallel park itself.
  • the new Autosteer feature. This is designed specifically for highway driving, and when engaged keeps the car in its lane. When you need to change lanes, you flip your turn signal and the car will move over on its own when it determines it’s safe to do so.
  • That "hands-on" detail is an important one. CEO Elon Musk emphasizes that the update is a public beta. "We say keep your hands on the wheel because it’s very important to exercise caution at this early stage,"
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  • Musk acknowledges that eventually we’ll not only be able to take our hands off the wheel, but there won’t be a steering wheel to begin with.
  • "This version doesn’t take into account stop signs and stop lights, but a future version will,"
  • "The more miles that are driven the better it will get," says Musk. "People should see the car improve with every passing week."
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    Autosteer feature that has been added to the recent update of Tesla vehicles software update is another step toward self-driving cars. In 10 years time the technology might lead to a accessibility of driving to everyone without the necessity of having a driving license 
alexbelov

Podshare is like a hostel and hotel combined - Tech Insider - 0 views

  • Guests get their own bunk with a TV, towel, outlets, and more for between $40 and $50 a night, depending on the location. They can also share the community fridge, food, bathrooms, toiletries, and work space areas.
  • Four years after launch, Podshare has hosted over 5,000 guests and has a loyal fan base. The company has a near-perfect five-star review on Yelp, 4.5 stars on TripAdvisor, and 16 members love it so much they had the logo tattooed on their body. Keep reading to see what it's like inside.
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    Podshare provides cheap and really small accommodation space to its customers who get their own tiny place to sleep and access to shared community space, which includes fridge, food, bathrooms and working area.
al_semenchenko

Apple Stole My Music. No, Seriously. | vellumatlanta - 0 views

  • “Wait,” I asked, “so it’s supposed to delete my personal files from my internal hard drive without asking my permission?” “Yes,” she replied.
  • through the Apple Music subscription, which I had, Apple now deletes files from its users’ computers. When I signed up for Apple Music, iTunes evaluated my massive collection of Mp3s and WAV files, scanned Apple’s database for what it considered matches, then removed the original files from my internal hard drive. REMOVED them. Deleted. If Apple Music saw a file it didn’t recognize—which came up often, since I’m a freelance composer and have many music files that I created myself—it would then download it to Apple’s database, delete it from my hard drive, and serve it back to me when I wanted to listen, just like it would with my other music files it had deleted.
  • What Apple considers a “match” often isn’t. That rare, early version of Fountains of Wayne’s “I’ll Do The Driving,” labeled as such? Still had its same label, but was instead replaced by the later-released, more widely available version of the song. The piano demo of “Sister Jack” that I downloaded directly from Spoon’s website ten years ago? Replaced with the alternate, more common demo version of the song. What this means, then, is that Apple is engineering a future in which rare, or varying, mixes and versions of songs won’t exist unless Apple decides they do.
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  • I save WAV files of my own compositions rather than Mp3s. WAV files have about ten times the number of samples, so they just sound better. Since Apple Music does not support WAV files, as they stole my compositions and stored them in their servers, they also converted them to Mp3s or AACs. So not only do I need to keep paying Apple Music just to access my own files, but I have to hear an inferior version of each recording instead of the one I created.
  • iCloud Music Library is turned on automatically when you set up your Apple Music Subscription…When your Apple Music Subscription term ends, you will lose access to any songs stored in your iCloud Music Library.
Maria Gurova

Higher education: The attack of the MOOCs | The Economist - 2 views

  • Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.
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    the spreading popularity of MOOCs from various prestigious educational establishments might change the traditional educational systems, making the knowledge accessible. Thus making education a commodity rather then a luxury 
Irina Marchenko

G20's Young Entrepreneurs are Increasingly Interested in Digital Technologies but not H... - 0 views

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    The recommendations summarized in a final Summit communique primarily focus on the following: *Need to develop digital infrastructure. Young entrepreneurs are the most active group in terms of both starting up businesses and using the latest digital technology to help run the business and optimize business processes; *Importance of developing educational programs for entrepreneurs, advancing the entrepreneurial culture, and streamlining government funding for "green" technology studies; *Need to ease the tax burden in the fields of scientific-technical programs and social entrepreneurship, namely the taxes imposed on employers and employee income tax; *Access to funding for startups and emerging companies. Ensuring funding on easy terms, changing banking requirements, developing rules for new forms of funding, including cross border online platforms, investors' and entrepreneurs' networks.
Maria Gurova

YouTube's Grand Plan to Make VR Accessible to Everybody | WIRED - 0 views

  • Today, YouTube is unveiling 360-degree virtual reality videos and a virtual movie theater for all YouTube videos, available to anyone with a Google Cardboard headset. The goal is to “democratize virtual reality” and “bring VR to everybody
  • expects that library of content to grow “very rapidly,” especially as the company works with YouTube creators to get more VR content up on the platform
  • But Facebook, its biggest competitor, is rapidly encroaching on YouTube’s turf.
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  • social network is now seeing 8 billion daily video views. Facebook itself recently debuted 360 video. And the social networking giant owns Oculus,
  • According to Variety, these YouTube stars are even more influential among US teens than Hollywood celebrities.
  • The one stumbling block is that not that many people have the equipment to experience VR. Google says some 1 million folks already own the Cardboard viewer
  • it’s convenient that the company is launching these virtual reality features right before The New York Times ships 1.3 million Google Cardboard sets this weekend, as it debuts its new VR documentary, “The Displaced.”
alexbelov

The Mobile Electorate - 0 views

  • This new, mobilized — and mobile-ized — electorate is a force to be reckoned with. As we head into the primaries, the sturdiness of these digital grassroots will be tested to their limit. Some of the most vocal campaigners in this race have never attended a rally, or even voted before. They’ve contributed every piece of their support — from fundraising to partisan point-scoring — via a screen. The significant change since 2012 is the size of that screen.
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    Traditional political campaign budgets are reduced, the candidates' supporters can be reached via the Internet, which is accessed by most of the users from their mobile devices now. The political message delivery system has completely changed. Candidates who use these new channels have a competitive advantage.
anna_nelidova

Google Hopes To Connect Indonesia To The Web With Internet-Beaming Balloons | IFLScience - 1 views

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    Next year Google's Project Loon may give access to Internet for millions of people in the areas with extreme geography.
Maria Gurova

Italian courts order ISPs to block isoHunt - 1 views

  • FIMI successfully lodged the complaint stating that isoHunt, which provides access to and sharing of illegal copies of copyright protected content, costs the Italian music industry millions of euros.
  • Earlier this year, the Rome court ordered to block domains of 27 torrent websites.
  • The growth of blocking orders seems to be a result of the struggle against online copyright infringements through torrent websites. Opponents of website-blocks argue that blocking access to torrent sharing websites is ineffective.
Maria Gurova

online piracy in Norway falls says report - 1 views

  • 210 million songs were illegally downloaded last year, compared to more than a billion four years ago.
  • Earlier this month, strict new laws aimed at tackling piracy were introduced which give rights holders the power to monitor suspected infringers and potentially order the government to shut down sites.
  • claims and has said on its website that income from online use of music, including legal streaming services, has risen.
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  • TONO also
  • “As high-speed internet capacity has become normal and often included in mobile subscriptions, illegal download and use of music has decreased,”
  • “The new legislation is in my opinion not sufficiently technology neutral, as it is clearly designed to serve as a tool to prevent P2P file sharing and not, for example, illegal streaming services, which may become a problem in the years to come.”
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    Norway continue to tighten the copyright laws in the advantage of the IP owners. Though the approach is based on strong preventive measures rather then transparent, easy to use, relatively inexpensive access to content it seems to work
Vladimir Antonov

Build-it-yourself spider robot aims to help kids learn robotics - 0 views

  • Assembling is half the fun
  • by building the robot you'll learn the basics of 3D modeling, electronics, mobile app coding and Arduino programming
  • platform is fully Open Access, meaning everyone will be able to freely modify all of its aspects
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  • founders promised to make the source code, as well as all the blueprints and 3D models free and accessible to everyone.
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    STEMI - a play on the acronym STEM, meaning Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics - is an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for a hexapod robot that moves like to a spider. Unlike many other commercial robots, however, this one comes in a kit, together with a set of multimedia lessons that helps you assemble it into a working robot.
Maria Gurova

Developed world plays waiting game with mobile payments - FT.com - 0 views

  • High-profile mobile money launches by Apple and Samsung may have caught the headlines
  • But it is the developments in payments systems in supposedly less developed nations in Africa and Asia that point the way to the probable future for wider mobile banking.
  • the reality remains that the mobile phone as a means of payment remains relatively niche even in developed markets.
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  • In the UK, for example, just 1 per cent
  • But analysts anticipate a further shift as more financial services and greater interactivity are added, which is when mobile payments will become mobile banking.
  • the mobile phone is taking on extra roles as a place to keep money safe and move it around, as well as to acquire other financial services from trusted providers.
  • services are quickly expanding to include loan disbursement, bill payment and micro insurance.
  • In the next few years mobile banking apps will become the predominant means to access all routine banking services, from applying for a loan or overdraft increase to letting the bank know you are moving house
  • So while we are working closely with digital giants such as Apple, Samsung and Google to roll out their payment services, we’re also working with the banks to create their own payment functionality embedded within their existing hugely popular banking apps
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    The article is about a shifting consumer behaviour in mobile payments and that it's not driven by developed economies with the established finical systems but rather by the emerging regions, like Africa and Asia 
Anton Vorykhalov

'Snooper's charter' bill becomes law, extending UK state surveillance | World news | Th... - 0 views

  • 'Snooper's charter' bill becomes law, extending UK state surveillance
  • The new surveillance law requires web and phone companies to store everyone’s web browsing histories for 12 months and give the police, security services and official agencies unprecedented access to the data.
  • “The government is clear that, at a time of heightened security threat, it is essential our law enforcement and security and intelligence services have the power they need to keep people safe. The internet presents new opportunities for terrorists and we must ensure we have the capabilities to confront this challenge. But it is also right that these powers are subject to strict safeguards and rigorous oversight.”
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  • He said the legislation was debated and passed while the public, media and politicians were preoccupied with Brexit: “Now that the bill has passed, there is renewed concern about the extent of the powers that will be given to the police and security agencies.
  • Home secretary hails ‘world-leading’ laws, which include forcing web and phone companies to collect browsing histories
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    British Yarovaya law
Maria Gurova

'Snowpiercer's' VOD gamble is paying off | EW.com - 0 views

  • distributors are usually loathe to discuss VOD specifics publicly. When consumers are used to seeing $60 to $100 million opening weekends for major blockbusters in wide release, VOD numbers, no matter how “good,” look miniscule in comparison. Add on the fact that Snowpiercer is the widest multi-platform release ever, and the tricky exercise of figuring out how to combine theatrical earnings with weekend estimates from digital and cable providers, and the territory gets even more unfamiliar.
  • Snowpiercer earning an estimated $1.1 million from VOD this past weekend, nearly twice as much as the $635,000 it earned in theaters. “From a layman’s perspective these numbers are possibly not that interesting,” admits RADiUS-TWC co-president Tom Quinn. “But from an industry perspective, it’s a game changer.”
  • VOD is both cheaper and more profitable. “That $1.1 million gross is actually worth almost double to me in terms of how it nets out in our bottom line,”
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  • VOD—with access to 85 million homes—doesn’t have the same drastic theatrical drop-offs from week to week.
  • Still, a two-week theatrical exclusive is an extremely short window, especially since Snowpiercer opened in only eight theaters and is currently showing at a mere 356 locations
  • “This is completely uncharted territory but it’s 100 percent within the consumer’s control how you want to see this film,”
Olga Bykova

The 5-Step Uber Playbook That Will Disrupt The On-Demand Economy | TechCrunch - 1 views

  • the ODE efficiently mobilizes supply chains and workforces while enabling collaboration and asset sharing. Uber harnesses the supply effortlessly because their workforce is essentially any person with a smartphone and a car. Sharing and access by phone is nothing new, but Uber was one of the first to apply it to the ODE in a massive scale.
  • One-Click Interface
  • While the one-click interface creates a compelling user experience, the optimized value chain is what makes the user stick around in the long term
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  • Simplifying (the push of a button gets you a ride or lunch delivery) Speed (time reduction from order to delivery) Trust (reliable customers, reliable delivery)
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    A frontrunner in the on-demand economy (ODE)
Vladimir Antonov

Pirate Bay gets 'Stream It' option for in-browser viewing (Wired UK) - 1 views

  • A new browser plugin for Windows and Mac computers has turned The Pirate Bay into the world's biggest streaming site
  • plugin lets people stream torrents embedded in webpages without needing to use an external client or download the torrent itself
  • A new 'Stream it!' button has appeared alongside existing options to download, although the feature is still in beta with poor image quality and slow speeds the main issues.
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  • Unlike conventional torrent downloads, the service is easy to use and lets users start watching pirated films and TV shows in seconds
  • The streaming add-on works by finding enough peers to stream content without buffering. Existing torrent streaming services used HTTP, which quickly became too demanding on bandwidth
  • By launching on The Pirate Bay, the service has instantly become one of the world's largest online streaming platforms, albeit one completely based on piracy
  • The team behind Torrents Time claimed that ad server integration was "coming soon". And if Torrents Time can make money, and dodge almost inevitable legal take-downs, it could be here to stay
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    seems we'll have legal online movie theatres and pirate ones, who'd gain more users in the future?
Maria Gurova

Instagram Testing 3D Touch Ads - 1 views

  • says the move by Instagram is part of an ongoing initiative to add more e-commerce features to the platform, as well as more ways to display and interact with products
  • "Mobile commerce is definitely a space we are looking at closely.
  • Instagram has become increasingly more interested in advertising and has deployed a variety of new products and ad formats for advertisers.
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    Instagram is testing tools that might make it the e-comemerce platform of the future
alexbelov

'Top universities to offer full degrees online in five years' - BBC News - 0 views

  • Founded in California four years ago, Coursera has become one of the world's biggest providers of "massive, open, online courses" - known as Moocs. The online platform has 20 million students following courses from about 145 prestigious universities and institutions around the world.But most of the online courses have been short units that give students a certificate, rather than a full degree or credits towards a degree.
  • Coursera has announced a partnership with the US State Department to help refugees to access online courses to improve their job chances, such as English language lessons or computer coding.It would remove any costs from studying, such as fees for certificates showing the completion of courses.
  • EdX is offering a range of online courses from Arizona State University - and if a student passes eight of these, costing $200 (£150) each, it counts as the equivalent of a first year at university.
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  • Coursera has launched two online postgraduate courses with the University of Illinois, at a much lower price than their conventional counterparts.
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    Leading universities will offer fully accredited undergraduate courses online within five years, says the founder of a leading US online university network.
Maria Gurova

8 Unexpected Ways Technology Will Change The World By 2020 | Co.Exist | ideas + impact - 3 views

  • NEW EDUCATION MODELS
  • education will become an "on-demand service" where people "pull down a module of learning" when they need it.
  • "School kids will learn from short bite-sized modules, and gamification practices will be incorporated in schools
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  • Making will go mainstream
  • not just with the creative class, but with people who would never consider themselves to be traditionally 'creative'--opening up a whole population of pragmatists who now make extremely useful 'artwork'
  • In the past, innovative products flowed from rich countries to poor countries. By 2020, the pipeline may start flipping
  • Africa embraces technology to solve health and education challenges, it may start exporting its models elsewhere
  • By 2020, mobile money will have spread throughout Africa, enabling some of the 2 billion people without access to financial services to come into the formal system.
  • dark imaginings: The end of privacy and the continued rise of surveillance. The personalization of everything and the end of serendipity. Dependence on devices. Loss of human autonomy in the face of artificial intelligence.
  • Machines
  • running our lives to a very large degree...
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    Many of things we've already discussed
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