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The most futuristic tech we cover, from AI to private space travel to concept cars.
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MIT’s algorithm could improve imaging techniques used during pregnancy
The placenta plays a critical role in pregnancy: connecting the fetus to the maternal blood system. But assessing placental health is difficult because modern imaging techniques provide limited information. Researchers from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) think they might be able to change that using a volumetric mesh-based algorithm.
Wisconsin firms hope to make radioactive isotopes for nuclear medicine (updated)
Certain cardiac stress tests and other nuclear medicine diagnostics depend on molybdenum-99, or Mo-99, a radioactive isotope that decays into the diagnostic imaging agent technetium 99m, or Tc-99m. The latter is used in more than 40 million medical imaging procedures each year, but Mo-99 is costly and difficult to make. Now, two Wisconsin firms say they've found a more efficient way to make the critical material.
WSJ: Visa, Mastercard are reconsidering support for Facebook Libra
It has been a few months since Facebook officially announced its "Libra" cryptocurrency push with support from some big names including Visa and Mastercard. Since then we've heard little about it other than increasing scrutiny from regulators, bankers and politicians around the world, while those partners have mostly remained quiet. The Wall Street Journal reports today that executives from unnamed partner companies have refused to support Libra publicly, despite requests from Facebook for them to do so. It claims, based on anonymous sources, that Visa, Mastercard and others are now reconsidering their involvement altogether. This all comes out as members of the Libra Association are preparing to meet in Washington D.C. on Thursday, so we'll likely find out soon if they pull together or split apart.
UPS delivery drones are on the way after FAA certification
UPS might soon be dropping off packages across the US by drone. The Federal Aviation Administration granted the UPS Flight Forward subsidiary air carrier and operator certification, allowing it to use drones for commercial deliveries.
SEC fines Block.one $24 million for unregistered ICO worth billions
Blockchain technology company Block.one has been fined $24 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for running an unregistered ICO (initial coin offering). According to the SEC, the company conducted the ICO between June 2017 and June 2018, raising several billion dollars' worth of digital assets, but did not register it as a securities offerings as stipulated by federal securities law. The SEC says this meant investors were not given the information they needed to make informed decisions.
People are struggling to use Tesla's Smart Summon feature safely
Tesla's handy Smart Summon feature was hailed as the next big thing in motoring convenience when it was first announced earlier this year. Press a button and the car comes to you? Brilliant. But as a few Tesla owners have recently shown, there's still a pretty big gap between the way Tesla says the feature should be used, and how people are actually using it.
Hyundai hires a NASA engineer to run its new 'flying car' division
Today, Hyundai threw its hat into the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) ring. The company announced that it's working to develop its own flying vehicles. Hyundai appointed Dr. Jaiwon Shin as head of its new UAM division. Most recently, Shin led NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. At Hyundai, Shin and his team will be tasked with developing the core technologies behind the company's flying vehicles.
US sanctions two Russians for meddling in 2018 midterm elections
Today, the US Treasury sanctioned two Russian nationals accused of working for the Internet Research Agency (IRA) and attempting to meddle in the 2018 US midterm elections. The US has already sanction the IRA and a handful of its members. Now, Igor Nesterov, 34, and Denis Kuzmin, 28, have been added to the list.
UK police auction TalkTalk hacker's cryptocurrency
A UK police force auctioned off more than £240,000 of cryptocurrency that they confiscated from the teenage hacker behind the 2015 TalkTalk breach. In April 2018, police discovered that Elliott Gunton was stealing personal data in exchange for hundreds of thousands of pounds in cryptocurrency. According to BBC, he admitted to five charges, including computer misuse and money laundering. He was sentenced to 20 months jail time and ordered to pay back £407,359. Apparently he was also sitting on a pretty large stash of cryptocurrency.
Hitting the Books: Teaching AI to sing slime mold serenades
Welcome to Hitting the Books. With less than one in five Americans reading just for fun these days, we've done the hard work for you by scouring the internet for the most interesting, thought provoking books on science and technology we can find and delivering an easily digestible nugget of their stories.
SpaceX's Starship halves come together ahead of a big event
Ten days after we got a peek at the construction of SpaceX's first Starship in Texas, CEO Elon Musk tweeted out a picture of the craft's two halves coming together. It's a timely post, as Musk is planning a press conference Saturday evening with updates on the company's programs, including its Starships. Last year Musk revealed that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa will be the first lunar space tourist, so who knows what's in store now. This 10-story-high Mk1 will provide a perfect backdrop for his comments, but that's not all. It's also fitted with three of SpaceX's Raptor engines, that should be enough to power a test flight soon. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said he's looking forward to the event, but also noted that Commercial Crew efforts are behind schedule.
Researchers easily breached voting machines for the 2020 election
The voting machines that the US will use in the 2020 election are still vulnerable to hacks. A group of ethical hackers tested a bunch of those voting machines and election systems (most of which they bought on eBay). They were able to crack into every machine, The Washington Post reports. Their tests took place this summer at a Def Con cybersecurity conference, but the group visited Washington to share their findings yesterday.
Amazon wants to write the rules regulating facial recognition tech
Amazon is drafting laws to regulate facial recognition technology, Vox reports. Supposedly, the company hopes that federal lawmakers will adopt its proposal as legislation. "Our public policy team is actually working on facial recognition regulations; it makes a lot of sense to regulate that," CEO Jeff Bezos said in an appearance following Amazon's hardware event yesterday.
FCC approves additional $950 million for broadband in Puerto Rico
The FCC is making good on its plans to further fund Puerto Rican broadband. Commissioners have voted in favor of an additional $950 million to "improve, expand and harden" communications in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Over $500 million of this will go to fixed broadband in Puerto Rico over the next 10 years, while roughly $250 million will go to mobile data over three years. The Virgin Islands will receive $180 million in 10 years for fixed broadband, with another $4 million devoted to mobile.
Fake news campaigns are a growing global problem
Disinformation is a major threat to tech companies, society, even democracy -- and it's only getting worse. In 2019, disinformation campaigns occurred in at least 70 countries, a significant jump from 28 countries in 2017. That's according to a new report by researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University. The report reveals just how widespread the problem of internet-based false information and propaganda has become.
Turns out Tesla police cars run out of 'gas' mid-chase, too
If you're a cop involved in a high-speed pursuit, the last thing you want to see on your dash is a notification that your car is about to run out of gas -- or in the case of one Fremont police officer, battery life. But that's what happened to Officer Jesse Hartman last week when his department's Tesla Model S patrol car warned him it had just six miles of battery left -- in the midst of a 120mph felony chase down the highway.
Alibaba unveils its own AI chip for cloud computing
Apparently, Huawei isn't the only Chinese mega-corporation that was developing its own AI chip. Alibaba has unveiled an in-house-designed AI chip called the Hanguang 800 a month after Huawei launched the Ascend 910. The company, mostly known for its e-commerce business, said the chip could significantly cut down on the time needed to finish machine learning tasks. For example: Alibaba-owned shopping website Taobao takes an hour to categorize the one billion product images sellers upload on the platform. With the the new chip, that task would apparently be done in five minutes.
McDonald's will sell plant-based Beyond Meat burgers in Canada
McDonald's has revealed its answer to Burger King's plant-based Impossible Whopper. On September 30th, the fast food giant will start serving the P.L.T. or Plant Lettuce Tomato burger in 28 restaurants in Southwestern Ontario. It created the new item using plant-based patties from Impossible Burger rival Beyond Meat, which also has an ongoing partnership with KFC to test its plant-based chicken.
The Morning After: Amazon put Alexa in everything
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. Wednesday events for Amazon and Facebook gave us visions of the world each company sees us living in. Naturally, each one includes plugging into lots of their stuff. When you're done tripping over the latest Alexa-enabled tchotchke, then it's time to consider finally getting a projector.
US Justice Department to reportedly open Facebook antitrust investigation
In the ongoing storm of legal controversy around Facebook and whether it engaged in anticompetitive behaviors, yet another player has joined the fray. Soon the Justice Department will open its own antitrust investigation into the company, according to a source who spoke to Reuters.
