Software development as a career has exploded over the last couple of years. And with the popularity of boot camps and lateral movements, it’s a great time to get involved. Yet behind all the fluff and pizazz of software engineering, there’s a side that’s not so glamorous. And if you’re like me, you probably want to know the dirty truth before committing time, energy, and money. With any job, there are good days and bad days....
I’ve always believed that Asia provides a unique opportunity to aspiring entrepreneurs, ever since I moved to South Korea in 2010. However, one thing is undoubtedly true – business in Asia is different from other parts of the world. But if you know how to approach it, you’ll be quick to grow. So here are the five biggest discoveries that helped me adjust to doing business in East Asia, and I hope they’ll help you fast-track your idea....
While traditional BCIs are tethered to users via cables, the new system — called BrainGate — replaces the cords with a small transmitter affixed atop a users’ head. The unit then connects to an electrode array implanted in the brain’s motor cortex. In a clinical trial, two participants with paralysis used the system to point, click, and type on a standard tablet computer. They both achieved similar typing speeds and point-and-click accuracy as those attained with wired systems....
Until now, scientists have had to manually mark which cells look alive and which look dead under the microscope. Dead cells have a characteristic balled-up appearance that is relatively easy to recognize once you know what to look for. My research team and I have employed a veritable army of undergraduate interns paid by the hour to scan through thousands of images and keep a tally of when each neuron in a sample appears to have died....
While it’s a fantastic and pocket-friendly idea for smaller clubs to show their games, sometimes AI can frustrate everyone. Scottish team Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club had deployed such a camera to live-stream their match against Ayr United. [Read: 4 ridiculously easy ways you can be more eco-friendly] The camera was supposed to track the ball automatically using AI and show footage on YouTube. However, the camera’s AI thought a bald linesman’s head was the ball, and repeatedly kept showing him instead of the ball in play....
Previous research has shown that lions roar to communicate with other members of their pride and scare off foes. But we still know little about how they recognize which animal has made the call. The Oxford scientists tried to find out by designing a device called a “biologger” that’s attached to a lion’s existing GPS collar to record audio and movement data. They then associated each call with a lion by cross-referencing the data through their recordings of roars....
In a statement for the company’s press release, Dharmesh Mehta, VP of Consumer Trust and Partner Support said:
The smoke from the fires rose high into the atmosphere and could be seen from space. Some regions of Brazil became covered in thick smoke that closed airports and darkened city skies. As the rainforest burns, it releases enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and larger particles of so-called “black carbon” (smoke and soot). The phrase “enormous amounts” hardly does the numbers justice – in any given year, the burning of forests and grasslands in South America emits a whopping 800,000 tonnes of black carbon into the atmosphere....
Their concerns have escalated since COVID-19 unleashed a wave of anti-vaccination zealots. According to a new study from the University of Washington, the world’s leading online retailer is amplifying the hysteria. They also discovered a filter-bubble effect that leads users who engage with misinformative products to be recommended more of the same. [Read: How much does it cost to buy, own, and run an EV? It’s not as much as you think] They tested a list of 48 search queries about 10 popular vaccine-related topics, such as “HPV vaccine” and “immunization,” without logging into the platform....
Conversations, refined The most notable update is a change in the way Android handles notifications. Android has always been the better of the two big mobile operating systems at handling notifications, and with Android 11, Google is making a big jump over Apple by allowing you to keep your conversations separate from your other notifications. It’s an inconvenience I hadn’t really thought about until now; with the barrage of notifications I get each day, sometimes important conversations can get buried....
The pace of technology has quickened to the point that an artist with the right know-how can shoot a movie on consumer-grade equipment that now looks almost indistinguishable from a major studio release. Heck, just pick up an iPhone and start capturing. But if you want animation…well, that isn’t quite so simple. Even with new modern advances, professional animators aren’t cheap, with even a project like a 90-second demo video costing up to $3,000....
During the company’s Q2 2020 earnings call, Apple’s senior vice president and Chief Financial Officer, Luca Maestri, confirmed the development: However, a few weeks of delay might not hurt Apple badly. Because of the pandemic, products have been delayed throughout the year, as supply chains might not be running at their full capacity. [Read: This app uses AI to make your selfies look fabulously ridiculous] Several reports from the last year and early this year had suggested that the new iPhone SE would arrive in March....
Thankfully, Apple has quietly introduced support from 1080p FaceTime calling to some older iPhones — but only on Wi-Fi. According to findings by MacMagazine, the company has listed this feature on product pages of iPhone 8 through iPhone 11. The publication notes that prior to the iOS 14.2 rollout, this feature wasn’t available on any of these devices. Surprisingly, the Cupertino-based firm didn’t mention this in the release notes for the update....
Still, even after removing Tesla as an outlier, a dozen companies in the tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 (NDX) have seen their share prices more than double since the index’s 2020 low on March 23. [Read: Tesla and Apple set stock splits to lower share prices — then they rallied] That list includes the “Argentinian Alibaba” Mercadolibre, up an eye-twitching 166% since the NDX’s COVID crash, and fintech giant PayPal, which has bounced from $85....
Per a report from The Register, McDonald’s may be facing a class action lawsuit after an Illinois customer sued the mega-corporation for allegedly violating the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA): Illinois has some of the stiffest biometric privacy laws in the US. The lawsuit apparently stems from the company’s use of automated drive-thru order takers in the form of chatbots. Drive-thru customers were subjected to experimental natural language processing (NLP) AI in the state, in at least 10 of the company’s locations....
According to figures shared in the Australian Federal Police’s yearly report, authorities began proceedings to seize AUD $7,300 (USD$5,000) worth of Bitcoin in 2016. However, by the time the police was actually able to get its hands on the cryptocurrency its value had increased to AUD$154,000 (USD$105,000). That’s a whopping 2,000 percent increase! The case began in 2016 when Australian authorities apprehended an individual suspected of running three firearms into the country....
In the short term they’re still expensive. In the long term charging millions of vehicles from the electricity grid presents challenges. I’m part of a new project, launched today, that tackles both of these obstacles head-on, and it could mean owners earn more money than they’re likely to pay for charging their electric vehicles. Paid for battery power The Realizing Electric Vehicle-to-grid Services project (REVS) will see owners paid to plug their electric vehicles into the national electricity grid....
It erroneously stated that by deploying the technology, a driver could “[their] toes and put [their] hands in the air like [they] just don’t care.“ As well as being cringe-inducing, the article is littered with phrases and descriptions of Manjoo’s behavior while driving that show a fundamental lack of understanding of the abilities of driver-assist technology and what it requires of the driver. A new name for the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets And it comes in the week that the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets rebranded itself as the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association (AVIA)....
Few ebikes fit that description as well as the Aventon Soltera, a lightweight and sleek ebike starting at just $1,199. At that price, it’s my Goldilocks choice of ebike. I’ve ridden cheaper, more powerful, more futuristic, and lighter ebikes before, but none that balance those qualities with as much finesse as the Soltera. Considering Aventon has been making bikes since 2012 — as opposed to the latest crowdfunded startup with questionable longevity — there are few caveats to prompt a raised eyebrow....
There are literally thousands of products being made all around the world. They’re high quality, sought-after items that millions of shoppers everywhere are always ready to step up and purchase. All that’s missing is a name on their packaging. That’s the idea behind private label products, premium goods created by a manufacturer for sale under someone else’s brand. So if you can come up with a concept and brand identity to base a company around, you can start sourcing products of virtually any type to now be sold under your soon-to-be iconic banner....
