Algorithm-controlled carpooling rather than individual taxi rides could cut the number of vehicles on city roads by 75 percent according to MIT researchers. But it seems to be a classic disconnect between the logical solution and the real world. The Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory crunched the numbers from data about three million taxi […]
The addition of an extra second to 2016 didn’t cause too much tech chaos, but did lead to some websites being difficult to reach for about 90 minutes. A leap second is an additional second added at the end of a month to compensate for the fact that the Earth’s rotation is slowing down very […]
It’s time to conclude our look back at some of the news stories we’ve covered here at GaS in 2016 as well as following up on later developments. In September a collection of Steve Jobs’s possessions went on sale. Highlights included a leather jacket worn in a famed picture of Jobs flipping off an IBM […]
Let’s continue our look back at some of the news stories we’ve covered here at GaS in 2016 as well as following up on later developments. In July, producer Larry Kasanoff revealed a planned $80 million budget Tetris movie would need to be a trilogy to tell the “story” in full. There’s no sign of […]
Let’s continue our look back at some of the news stories we’ve covered here at GaS in 2016 as well as following up on later developments. In May Blizzard announced it would have a permanent ban for anyone found cheating at online team shooter game Overwatch. It proved no empty threat, with the most embarrassing […]
Let’s continue our look back at some of the news stories we’ve covered here at GaS in 2016 as well as following up on later developments. In March the Department of Defense launched a challenge for “white hat hackers” to try to breach their computer systems. Sensibly enough it was limited to approved US participants […]
It’s time once again to take a look back at some of the news stories we’ve covered here at GaS in 2016 as well as following up on later developments. In January New York City announced plans to replace almost all of its payphone booths with Wi-Fi hotspots funded by advertising. The new booths also […]
One of the world’s largest investment companies is working on software to make day to day management decisions: not on the investments but rather the operation of the company itself. The idea appears to be to automate Bridgewater Associates to the point that founder Ray Dalio can take a back seat while still being confident […]
Swiss researchers have taken inspiration from nature by designing a drone whose wings have artificial feathers. The Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne’s drone mirrors the way a bird not only has feathers but can fold its wings. The idea is to make the drone more versatile and increase overall performance. The big difference is that […]
Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler has confirmed he’ll leave the commission on January 20. It guarantees a Republican-leaning majority on the commission and could spell doom for net neutrality rules. The political make-up of the FCC’s board of commissioners has been a significant issue during Wheeler’s time in office, with many votes being a […]