The entire Apollo 11 mission to the moon took just eight days. If we ever want to build permanent bases on the moon, or perhaps even Mars or beyond, then future astronauts will have to spend many more days, months and maybe even years in space without a constant lifeline to Earth. The question is how would they get hold of everything they needed. Using rockets to send all the equipment and supplies for building and maintaining long-term settlements on the moon would be hugely expensive.
Unless you do a fair bit of business in the sort of Information Technology that involves paying someone very expensive to keep it all going, that is. But you might hear more about the Japanese multinational, if the successful test of its new passenger drone is any indication.
We’ve got another couple of Bluetooth speakers up for grabs, this time a pair of UE Boom 3 speakers from Ultimate Ears. We like the sound of that. Except for the bit where we’re not eligible to enter. But hey, that means better odds for all of you.
In this week’s Light Start, the Channel is crossed, AI takes on knitting, we indulge in some Console Wars (later), and check out some Little Monsters.
Young people are now fully ensconced in the digital age as it whirls around and within them. This is the epoch of the Anthropocene — the age of humans, wherein a technological worldview and human tools hold the central place in re-shaping the earth and its people. It’s also a time when 1.8 billion youth make up the largest generation of 10 to 24 year olds in human history with 50 per cent of the world’s population under 30 years of age.
Today, discussions about lunar exploration have moved away from establishment of a permanent lunar base as a preliminary for extended exploration. Instead, there has been a significant advance in planning the construction of the Deep Space Gateway – a space station in orbit around the moon. This is an international project between a number of different space agencies.
Fitbit’s Versa smartwatch/fitness tracker impressed us right out of the gate, though we were less taken with the sequel. The next entry in the franchise promises to do better, though, as Fitbit’s next Versa has leaked online. The highlight? A new AMOLED display, some design changes, and support for Amazon’s Alexa. Looks like we might have to get that Echo tech after all.
DJI has launched a first-person view (FPV) headset for pilots that has a mere 28 milliseconds of latency and can stream at 720p at 120 fps.
Researchers have designed a “Multimodal Turing Test” to judge a machine’s appearance, movement, voice and what we call embodied artificial intelligence (EAI). This is a measure of how well artificial intelligence is integrated with a robotic body in order to expresses a personality.
If you’re a fan of zombie games, now might be a time to rejoice. Unless you’re also aware of what…