Google’s self-driving cars may be out on the road already, but it will take awhile before public is truly ready to give up all driving control to artificial intelligence. In the interim, Volvo has a solution that lets drivers (sometimes) sleep at the wheel while still improving highway safety—and it just completed the first real-world tests.
Dubbed SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment), the EU-backed project is working on road trains—vehicles equipped with software already found in many Volvo vehicles (including laser sensors, cameras, and radars) that are automatically led along the highway by a lead vehicle, which is commandeered by a professional driver. Regular drivers could one day simply use in-car navigation to find the nearest highway road train, get on the tail end, and let the vehicle platoon take over steering, braking, and acceleration.
So how long you guys think it’ll take before seeing a self-driving vehicle on the road is a common experience?
The fine folks at Google continue to wow with the specialty Google Doodle, this one celebrating what would have been the 78th birthday of Bob Moog, godfather of the synthesizer. The doodle is already live in such parts of the world where it’s already May 23rd, but for Americans yet have a bit to wait. This follows up another massively popular musical doodle from last year, in honor of electric guitar pioneer Les Paul.
Google Knowledge Graph Could Make Clicking Unnecessary
Rather than having to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation’s website to learn more about the architect, Google will use Knowledge Graph to showcase biographical details about the architect on its own website, serving up his birthdate, spouse, children and images of his most famous buildings (See screenshot below). Of course, it’s just a cursory glance at the architect — but one that might satisfy many.
A pal of ours who used to work at Google-acquired startup Apture called this the “Tristan Harris feature” earlier today. (Harris was Apture’s CEO.) This is very much the basic idea of Apture applied to Google search results, which is cool.
A new company backed by two Google Inc. billionaires, film director James Cameron and other space exploration proponents is aiming high in the hunt for natural resources—with mining asteroids the possible target.
James Cameron, Google Founder Back Space-Mining Venture - WSJ.com
What about Bruce Willis?
(via evangotlib)Needs more famous people backing it.
That’s what a new antitrust case alleges: Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit, Lucasfilm, and Pixar find themselves facing a new antitrust lawsuit in California. The accusations come from five software engineers, who allege that the companies conspired to stifle pay and job mobility in an effort to cut costs. District Judge Lucy Koh rejected the companies’ request to dismiss the suit, saying,” The fact that all six identical bilateral agreements were reached in secrecy among seven defendants in a span of two years suggests that these agreements resulted from collusion, and not from coincidence.” source
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good:
This spring, why not beautify and simplify your inbox, the electronic manifestation of your whole life?
Our Gmail insider is here to give you options other than “slash and burn.”
This is very necessary for the upcoming week.
We have a folder set aside for most of the advertising we get. As well as a folder set aside for news alerts (HuffPo, admittedly, sends a lot of them, heh). Cleaned things up significantly.
Google was the rich kid who, after having discovered he wasn’t invited to the party, built his own party in retaliation. The fact that no one came to Google’s party became the elephant in the room.Former Google (and current Microsoft) employee James Whittaker • Discussing why he left the company. One word and a symbol: Google+. Whittaker had some tough words for his former company, comparing them to a TV network that’s now focused on the commercials instead of creating great shows. This is the second-most-scathing open letter of the day; most days, it would easily be in first place. However … why did he go to Microsoft? It’s not like they’re seen as being much better about innovation *cough* Courier *cough*.
“Your stream could easily be overwhelmed” … by people using apps like Buffer and HootSuite so they don’t have to do everything through 30 different interfaces. In other words, Google+ is shooting itself in the foot by basically preventing third-party apps, which helped Facebook and Twitter in particular get off the ground, from using their service to post. Sorry, Vic. You’re a fool if you think this is a valid reason to block third-party apps.
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» An advertising play: “We can provide more relevant ads too,” Google points out. “For example, it’s January, but maybe you’re not a gym person, so fitness ads aren’t that useful to you.” More relevant for users, possibly, but more relevant for advertisers, too? It’ll be interesting to see what happens a few months down the line with this policy.
I hope someone does something to rectify this.
No it hasn’t. It’s just another, similar Google problem — which the WSJ doesn’t correctly note. Search Engine Land has a different, more accurate and … uh, frothier take on the matter.
People who constantly reach into a pocket to check a smartphone for bits of information will soon have another option: a pair of Google-made glasses that will be able to stream information to the wearer’s eyeballs in real time.
According to several Google employees familiar with the project who asked not to be named, the glasses will go on sale to the public by the end of the year. These people said they are expected “to cost around the price of current smartphones,” or $250 to $600.
The people familiar with the Google glasses said they would be Android-based, and will include a small screen that will sit a few inches from someone’s eye. They will also have a 3G or 4G data connection and a number of sensors including motion and GPS.
This is gonna be totally aces to use with our self-driving car.
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