Death, drones and driverless cars: how Google wants to control our lives | Technology. If you want to understand the future of humanity – where we’re headed, who’ll be in charge, and exactly how worried you should be about that – you could do worse than begin with two unremarkable buildings, on opposite coasts of the US. The more famous one, half a mile from Google’s main campus in Mountain View, California, is home to Google X, the search giant’s purportedly secret research lab. It’s not really very secret. From breathless reports in the technology press, we know it’s where Google’s co-founder, Sergey Brin, oversees the development of self-driving cars; tiny drones that can deliver packages by hovering high above the ground and winching them down on fishing line; helium balloons to beam 3G internet access to remote parts of the world; unmanned flying turbines to collect wind energy at high altitudes; and Google Glass, the head-mounted, web-connected, video-enabled computer perfect for alienating friends and strangers alike.
The drones are all part of the plan. A third of UK jobs to be replaced by robots and computers in next 20 years - Gadgets and Tech - Life and Style. More than 10 million roles are likely to be replaced by automated systems, with repetitive, lower-paid jobs (those earning less than £30,000 a year) five times more likely to be made obsolete than higher-paid jobs. Experts said the trends identified in the report were already well under way, with “high risk” jobs identified in “office and administrative support; sales and services; transportation; construction and extraction; and production.” Many of these professions have already been heavily affected by automated systems, with the report’s authors noting that in London 65 per cent of librarians have lost their jobs since 2001 and almost half of personal assistants and secretaries. Loading gallery In pictures: Artificial intelligence through history 1 of 7 Angus Knowles-Cutler, a senior partner at Deloitte, warned that the study could exacerbate income inequality and create “a widening gap between the 'haves’ and 'have nots’”.
“London has a lot going for it. First passengers on Japanese maglev train travel at speeds of 311 mph - Asia. The maglev trains have been tested before between the cities of Uenohara and Fuefuki but now members of the public have been allowed on board for the first time. The 27-mile trip went by in a flash for the 100 passengers as the train, which “floats” above tracks using magnetic levitation, hit speeds of 311 mph (500 kmh).
Footage of the high-speed ride showed a live display in each carriage keeping a constant record of the velocity as passengers watched the blur through aeroplane-sized windows. The Central Japan Railway Company is running eight days of testing for the experimental maglev Shinkansen train on its test track in Yamanashi Prefecture, the BBC reported. Maglev trains are even faster than Japan's famous bullet trains, which currently travel at about 200 mph (320 kmh). They will eventually consist of 16 carriages, carrying up to 1,000 passengers at a time and cutting the current travel time by more than half, from 90 to 40 minutes.
Loading gallery Japanese bullet trains: in pictures. Hendo Hoverboards - World's first REAL hoverboard by Hendo Hover. Risks and challenges We have already built a working hoverboard, so the principle risk of not being able to deliver on our big promise is nil. However, there is the possibility we do not add as much functionality as we would like by the delivery date. That is why we are giving ourselves an entire year to perfect and produce the first design, so that by October 21st, 2015, we have an amazing product ready to be mass produced. The money raised will help hire the additional engineers, scientists and technicians, as well as provide the fixed capital we need, to ensure this happens. Another risk is reward fulfillment. Fortunately, we have several experts in operations on the team, with over four decades of experience with companies such as GE, Western Digital, Thermo Fischer and Pfizer. All have worked with multinational supply chains.
Although we will procure parts from a number of overseas suppliers, final assembly will be right here in Los Gatos, California. Government Control | Book of the Future. Coming to this story a little belatedly but better late than never. Only a short post, a plea to the government: don’t do it. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read this. Following the many and monumental recent IT balls-ups, the government has decided that it would now be a great idea to blow £12bn on a privacy-busting database to monitor our emails and mobile phone calls. Today our service providers already store data on who we call, when and how often, as well as the websites we visit, and the email addresses we message. Now the government wants to take control of this information, store it for twice as long, and make it searchable.
Bad idea. Even if we ignore the fact that large government IT projects have an atrocious track record on cost, delivery, and actually achieving anything useful. In reality, this database will be a monstrous failure that costs far more than anyone planned, and remains useless years after it was due to be operational. The Decay of Power Big society. Intersection: Where Macro Trends Meet Your Market. Futurism is a practice with an increasing level of professionalism and process. Futurologists, trend forecasters, and strategists use a variety of different methodologies to understand what’s happening, filter the noise and try to inform and qualify their predictions. At Book of the Future we have created our own approach that we call Intersection, to allow us to make practical predictions and inform the advice we give to clients. Specifically it is designed to help us understand and demonstrate how macro trends, related to or driven by technology, will impact on the specific sectors our clients are working within. 3D Lens The process starts with our ’3D Lens’: we believe that in a specific place (the UK) and over a specific period (the next twenty years), technology will be the biggest driver of change.
Of course there is a small chance that we will have a revolution or a massive natural disaster, or other shock event in the UK in the next twenty years. Primary Trends Accelerated Agile. Set Design / Art Direction — Andrew Stellitano / Design & Art Direction. The Odyssey In collaboration with Ryan Hopkinson, Adam Leary & The Forge we set out to create a series of images that would forge awe-inspiring nature with the refinement of modern interior design.
Key visual cues were taken from the paintings of John Martin, Constable and Friedrich as reference to the landscapes, interior tones and lighting. We used modern furniture pieces supplied by designers Swedese & Skandium to add specific textures to the set whilst the rest of the backgrounds, mirrors and tables where designed and made by Andrew Stellitano. The mirror’s act as the entrance to un-explored worlds, where the interaction of raindrops, clouds and smoke escape into the interior surroundings. The luxury items from Ralph Lauren, Panerai & Armani featured within the images reflect their importance and use within each of Adam Leary’s matte painted landscapes. Photography by Ryan Hopkinson Digital Matte Painting by Adam Leary Post Production by The Forge Set Design Assistant Rebecca Cooper. Barneys CEO Mark Lee - Dirk Standen Interview - The Future of Shopping - Style.com. Mark Lee is a cool customer. Trim and precisely dressed, he speaks in quiet, measured tones.
Of course, he has other sides to his personality—to realize that, you had only to hear the heartfelt speeches that longtime colleagues gave at a Legal Momentum dinner during which he was honored a couple of years ago—but you suspect that his surface unflappability serves him well in business. After all, he occupies one of the hottest seats in retail. As the CEO of Barneys New York since 2010, he has been in charge of turning around the beloved luxury retailer during a turbulent time for department stores. Though his tenure has not been without controversy, he has steered the ship to safer waters, not least through a deal in which Perry Capital became the company’s majority owner and Barneys reduced its debt from $590 million to $50 million. Chapter 1 E-commerce is on track to become your second biggest retail channel, ahead of the Beverly Hills store and second only to the New York flagship. LSN : Seed : After hours: New York fashion label presents interactive night-time show.
LSN : Seed : Pick and mix: Music video where viewers can pick the outfits. Rosetta mission: Philae goes to sleep on comet as batteries run out | Science. The Philae lander sitting on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko has run out of power after a successful last-ditch attempt to nudge it into better sunlight apparently came too late to charge its batteries and keep systems up and running. Mission controllers for the Rosetta mission had said on Friday that they were preparing to “hop” the robotic probe in a hope it would settle in a sunnier spot on the comet’s surface. Later came a promising announcement. “My rotation was successful (35 degrees). Looks like a whole new comet from this angle,” read a message posted on the lander’s official Twitter account. Earlier the scientists tweeted: “First comet drilling is a fact!” But afterwards the Philae mission tweeted: — Philae Lander (@Philae2014)November 15, 2014. Philae had apparently been successful in shifting position to gives its shaded solar panels a better chance of catching sunlight.
If the batteries are not charged the lander goes into hibernation. LSN : Seed : Distillation station: Device that turns Coca-Cola into water.