TREND REPORTS
This Chip Beams Images Onto The Brain to Help The Blind See Again
[Tech]
2017/07/24 10:04
Circumventing your eyes entirely, this chip beams images from the world onto the brain to help restore sight. A team of university engineers has turned to science and electronics to help restore sight and hearing. Instead of building bionic eyes or digital cochleas, a team at Rice University has built a flat microscope – dubbed FlatScope – that sits on the brain, beaming the world around you...
Americans Are Divided About Almost Everything Except Hot Sauce
[Consumer]
2017/07/24 10:04
Beyoncé sings about it, Hillary Clinton talks about it, and people are increasingly scooping it off US grocery-store shelves. Hot sauce is enjoying an uninterrupted five-year sales streak.Just how impressive is the US hot sauce market? Since 2012, it has experienced at least 5% growth in sales every year, according to data provided by Euromonitor. That leaves other condiments—think mustard, m...
Reddot Award 2017 Winner - Ora : Smart Urban Safety Device
[Design]
2017/07/24 10:03
The concept was awarded a Red Dot design award in July 2017 for the smart concept category.We challenged ourselves to solve some of the issues with current tracking devices in an internal design-sprint.Rapid realisation of early concept thinking resulted in a lightweight and versatile system for use in urban areas.Its use of state-of-the-art Google technology allows it to piggy-back off nearby...
(Patent) Apple Wins Patent for Camera Field of View Effects for Superior Selfie Shots
[Tech]
2017/07/23 10:12
Apple's invention relating to the field of image capture, and more particularly, to acquiring images with a wide "field of view" (FOV) image sensor as they relate to taking superior 'Selfie' photos. The invention reveals that the sensor is smart enough to actually coax the user to hold the camera in a more optimal position. Apple's patent FIG. 2A presented below illustrates an exemplary self-po...
(PDF) Mckinsey - Cracks in The Ridesharing Market — And How to Fill Them
[Business]
2017/07/23 10:10
For all of its remarkable growth, ridesharing is still far from ubiquitous. To boost miles traveled, the industry will need new solutions, including smarter design.Quick quiz: What percent of 2016 vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the United States came from ridesharing? Given the hype, it would be reasonable if your estimate were higher than the right answer—1 percent. Currently, ridesharing do...
(PDF) Stanford Researchers Develop a New Type of Soft, Growing Robot
[Tech]
2017/07/23 10:09
Stanford's soft snake robot grows outwards to explore rubble on a search and rescue mission.If you ever find yourself stuck in a disaster zone, your rescuer could take on some unexpected forms, like a drone or a cyborg cockroach – and now we can add a soft robotic snake to the mix. A Stanford team has developed a flexible robot that grows like a vine, squeezing through rubble to find trapped s...
(Video) These AI Bots are So Believable, They Get More Dates Than You - Conversica
[Business]
2017/07/23 10:08
AI assistants help make sales teams more efficient, freeing up human power to increase the bottom line. Bots can be more successful than human counterparts at weeding out dead-end leads. Experts say jobs in retail sales will most likely be computerized in coming years."You sound cute, got a picture?""Nicole, your [sic] beautiful, are you single?""I love you, Jen."Those may sound like messages f...
This Chart Shows Where Robots are Going to Replace Humans on Wall Street
[Business]
2017/07/23 10:07
Automated technologies could have a big impact on 60% of Wall Street jobs, according to a new report by McKinsey, the consulting firm.Integration of new technology doesn't guarantee big revenue spikes, but it is necessary to keep firms afloat in the digital age. Some big firms are already taking action. The robots are coming for Wall Street's jobs, and McKinsey & Co has an idea of exactly w...
SoftBank Invests in Largest Ever Agtech Deal, a $200m Series B for Indoor Ag Startup, Plenty
[Investing]
2017/07/23 10:06
Indoor vertical farming company Plenty has raised $200 million in a Series B round of funding, the largest agtech investment to date. Just one month after the grower acquired indoor agriculture hardware company Bright Agrotech, this round was led by Japan’s SoftBank Vision Fund, a $93 billion, multi-stage tech fund.Affiliates of Louis M. Bacon, the founder of Moore Capital Management, also joi...
