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Comment Re:"drivers?" (Score 1) 451

by Shadyman (#52395991) Attached to: Drivers Prefer Autonomous Cars That Don't Kill Them
The pictograms in the morality assessment were a bit odd, considering most cars can survive a head-on collision with a concrete wall. Also, younger adults are more easily repairable and more resilient physically than older adults. I understand that's not the point of the morality assessment, but you can't just ignore those variables. What kind of speeds are the cars traveling in an urban setting that they can't stop in that amount of time? Are we abandoning "pedestrian airbags"? Are passenger airbags a thing of the past as well?

Submission + - 3 Days to go for Star Trek Renegades Funding (kickstarter.com)

Submitted by Shadyman
Shadyman writes: From the link: "The countdown for Star Trek Renegades Continues through Black Friday Weekend and Cyber Monday. We've reached $310,000, which is 88% of the goal with 3 Days to go. Help us bring this project over the finish line."

This Kickstarter will fund Epsiodes 2 and 3 of the fan-funded true-to-canon Star Trek series. The project needs $350,000 to be funded.

I don't want to advertise/spam up Slashdot, but I'm sure a canonical Trek is relevant to Slashdot's collective interest, and has been previously featured on this site.
ISS

Russian Cargo Spacehip Declared Lost 108

Posted by samzenpus from the all-gone dept.
schwit1 writes: The Russians have declared lost the Progress freighter that had been launched to the ISS yesterday. They never could regain control of the craft, plus it was in an incorrect orbit. Moreover, the U.S. Air Force has detected debris nearby, suggesting a significant failure of some kind. The Russians are now considering delaying the next manned launch, scheduled for May 26, while they investigate this failure. Both Soyuz and Progress use some of the same systems, including the radar system that failed on Progress, and they want to make sure the problem won't pop up on the manned mission. At the same time, they are also considering advancing the launch date of the next Progress to ISS from August 6. Based on these reports, I think they might swap the launch dates for the two flights. A Dragon is scheduled to go to ISS in between these missions, though that schedule could be changed as well to accommodate the Russian plans.
Transportation

Idiot Leaves Driver's Seat In Self-Driving Infiniti, On the Highway 406

Posted by samzenpus from the bad-idea dept.
cartechboy writes Self-driving cars are coming, that's nothing new. People are somewhat nervous about this technology, and that's also not news. But it appears self-driving cars are already here, and one idiot was dumb enough to climb out of the driver's seat while his car cruised down the highway. The car in question is a new Infiniti Q50, which has Active Lane Control and adaptive cruise control. Both of which essentially turn the Q50 into an autonomous vehicle while at highway speeds. While impressive, taking yourself out of a position where you can quickly and safely regain control of the car if needed is simply dumb. After watching the video, it's abundantly clear why people should be nervous about autonomous vehicles. It's not the cars and tech we need to worry about, it's idiots like this guy.
Robotics

By 2045 'The Top Species Will No Longer Be Humans,' and That Could Be a Problem 564

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the kill-all-humans dept.
schwit1 (797399) writes Louis Del Monte estimates that machine intelligence will exceed the world's combined human intelligence by 2045. ... "By the end of this century most of the human race will have become cyborgs. The allure will be immortality. Machines will make breakthroughs in medical technology, most of the human race will have more leisure time, and we'll think we've never had it better. The concern I'm raising is that the machines will view us as an unpredictable and dangerous species." Machines will become self-conscious and have the capabilities to protect themselves. They "might view us the same way we view harmful insects." Humans are a species that "is unstable, creates wars, has weapons to wipe out the world twice over, and makes computer viruses." Hardly an appealing roommate."
Science

'Vampire' Squirrel Has World's Fluffiest Tail 54

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the in-the-dead-of-night-squirrel-bites dept.
sciencehabit (1205606) writes Few scientists have ever seen the rare tufted ground squirrel (Rheithrosciurus macrotis), which hides in the hilly forests of Borneo, but it is an odd beast. It's twice the size of most tree squirrels, and it reputedly has a taste for blood. Now, motion-controlled cameras have revealed another curious fact. The 35-centimeter-long rodent has the bushiest tail of any mammal compared with its body size.
HP

HP Makes More Money, Cuts 16,000 Jobs 288

Posted by timothy from the leaner-yet dept.
jfruh (300774) writes "Good news for HP: Profits are up by 18% over the previous year! Bad news for HP: A lot of those profits are from post-Windows XP PC upgrades, and company revenue actually dipped 1%. The solution, according to CEO Meg Whitman, is "continuous improvement in our cost structure," which means firing thousands of people. At the end of the next round of layoffs, the company will have shed 50,000 employees since 2012." New submitter Deveauxes (3664417) links to a similar story from CNN's news service, according to which "HP said the latest layoffs would come across all its business units and geographic locations, and would generate $1 billion in annual savings beyond the $3.5 to $4 billion projected from the previously announced cuts. 'No company likes to decrease the work force, and we recognize that this is difficult for employees,' CEO Meg Whitman said in a conference call with analysts. 'I think everyone understands the turnaround we're in.'"
Bug

Linux Developers Consider On-Screen QR Codes For Kernel Panics 175

Posted by timothy from the take-a-picture-it'll-last-longer dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Linux kernel developers are currently evaluating the possibility of using QR codes to display kernel oops/panic messages. Right now a lot of text is dumped to the screen when a kernel oops occurs, most of which isn't easily archivable by normal Linux end-users. With QR codes as Linux oops messages, a smart-phone could capture the display and either report the error string or redirect them to an error page on Kernel.org. The idea of using QR codes within the Linux kernel is still being discussed by upstream developers."

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