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Submission + - Mercedes' Autonomous Trucks Mean Drivers Can Read iPad on Highway

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: Big rig operators may not be thrilled to hear it (or maybe they will). Daimler board member Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard was quoted as saying "The truck of the future is a Mercedes-Benz that drives itself." The German automaker has completed a first public road test of an autonomously-driven truck. Radar and stereo cameras keep the rig on the right course once it's at cruising speed, freeing the driver to get "other" work done. (Watch the video to get a sense for a trucker being able to settle in with his iPad.) Mercedes says the self-driving truck could allow drivers to perform tasks that might otherwise be handled by office workers. So maybe it's office workers that need to worry about autonomous trucks, rather than the drivers.

Submission + - Google Glass wearers can steal your password (cnn.com)

Submitted by mpicpp
mpicpp writes: Remember the kid who tried to cheat off you by looking over your shoulder to copy your test answers? He's baaaack.
But this time he's wearing Google Glass — and he's after your iPad PIN.

Cyber forensics experts at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell have developed a way to steal passwords entered on a smartphone or tablet using video from Google's face-mounted gadget and other video-capturing devices. The thief can be nearly ten feet away and doesn't even need to be able to read the screen — meaning glare is not an antidote.
The security researchers created software that maps the shadows from fingertips typing on a tablet or smartphone. Their algorithm then converts those touch points into the actual keys they were touching, enabling the researchers to crack the passcode.

They tested the algorithm on passwords entered on an Apple iPad, Google's Nexus 7 tablet, and an iPhone 5.

Why should you be worried?
"We could get your bank account password," researcher Xinwen Fu said.

Submission + - Microsoft kills off MapPoint and Streets & Trips in favor of Bing Maps 1

Submitted by DroidJason1
DroidJason1 writes: Microsoft has killed off two of its mapping products, MapPoint and Streets & Trips. Both of these services have received their last update and will soon be retired in favor of Microsoft's premier mapping product, Bing Maps. The company has yet to go public with a press release announcing the retirement of these two mapping services, but the Redmond giant has quietly mentioned the fate on both the services' websites. MapPoint was first released back in 1999 and made it easier to view, edit, and integrate maps into software. Streets & Trips was a route planning package. Microsoft is now pushing Bing Maps as the service that can do all this and more.

Submission + - Facial Recognition Might Be Coming To Your Car

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: What if you got into your car and you had to authenticate that it was you behind the wheel? That might be what's coming in the near future as Ford's working with Intel to bring facial recognition to the car. The idea would be to improve safety and in-car tech with this system which is being called Project Mobil. When someone enters a Project Mobil-equipped car the system uses front-facing cameras to authenticate the driver. If the driver can't be authenticated it'll send a photo to the vehicle owner's phone asking for permission for this person to drive the vehicle. Once identified, the car can then automatically adjust certain settings to the driver's preference. This could also theoretically allow parents to control how loud their kids listen to the music while driving, how fast they can drive, and even simply monitor them driving. Obviously this NSA-like surveillance tech is a bit creepy on some levels, but there could be a lot of terrific applications for it. While only an experiment, don't be surprised if your dashboard stares back at you eventually.

Submission + - Yes, Men Always Swipe Right: The Game Theory Of Tinder (buzzfeed.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Women have long suspected that every man on Tinder is blindly swiping right and matching with every woman regardless of their profile. Learn how the science of Game Theory actually predicts this stereotypical male behavior.

Submission + - For $10,000 You Could Make Your Car Autonomous

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: Tired of waiting for self-driving cars from the automakers? If 2017 and 2020 just feel too far away there's now a solution it's called Cruise, and for $10,000 it'll turn your current ride into a self-driving car. Kyle Vogt started the company and recruited a team of engineers and roboticists from MIT to work on autonomous vehicles. Cruise plans to market the hardware as something that can be retrofitted to existing cars using roof-mounted sensors near the windshield, actuators to operate the controls, and a trunk-mounted computer that manages everything. The idea is that drivers can merge onto the highway and simply hit the "Cruise" button on the dashboard. This will engage the system and basically turns the car on autopilot. The system can use the steering, brakes, and throttle to keep the car in its lane. Currently the first system called RP-1 only works on current-generatinon Audi A4 and S4 models, but one would have to assume there are plans for expanding that. RP-1 is currently available for pre-order with the launch set for near year.

Submission + - A Physicist Says He Can Tornado-Proof the Midwest with 1,000-Foot Walls 1

Submitted by meghan elizabeth
meghan elizabeth writes: University of Drexel physicist Rongjia Tao has a utopian proposal to build three massive, 1,000-foot high, 165-foot thick walls around the American Midwest, in order to keep the tornadoes out.

Building three unfathomably massive anti-tornado walls would count as the infrastructure project of the decade, if not the century. It would be also be exceedingly expensive. So is Tao serious? Absolutely.

Submission + - Is Suspension-Energy Recovery The Next Big Thing?

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: Let's face it, regenerative braking is now old tech. It's on everything from the Toyota Prius to your mom's new Ford Fusion Hybrid. So what's next? We've already heard about thermoelectric technology which recovers energy from hot surfaces such as exhaust, but what about the energy used by your car while moving up and down? That's right, recovering energy normally lost through a vehicle's suspension. Audi is reportedly developing a regenerative suspension system that could reclaim energy in a similar way to regenerative braking, providing an extra boost of electricity from the up-and-down motion of the shock absorbers. Shocks can become quite hot, especially on a bumpy road. That heat is pretty much wasted as it dissipates into the atmosphere as wasted energy, but the Audi system would collect it with an attached generator. That recovered energy would be stored in batteries and used to power a hybrid's electric motor or electrical accessories in a conventional car. Audi hasn't said when this tech will make its public debut, but this stuff is the next step in when it comes to energy recovery in cars.

Submission + - Toyota to Release Fuel Cell Car in Japan (bidnessetc.com)

Submitted by puddingebola
puddingebola writes: From the article, "Toyota Motor Corporation (TM) announced today that its highly-anticipated fuel-cell vehicle will be introduced to the market next year. The company has been working on developing the technology for over 20 years, and has made several test runs previously." Cost of the vehicle will be $69,000 and it will be available in March 2015 in Japan. Toyota will target regions with infrastructure for hydrogen refueling, as well as spend money to build additional infrastructure.

Submission + - NADA Is Terrified Of Tesla

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: It's no secret that the National Automobile Dealers Association has been trying to block Tesla from selling cars directly from consumers, but to date, it has been defeated countless times in many states. Now NADA put out a release and promotional video touting the benefits of dealer franchises, something Tesla has shunned. NADA mentions price competition, consumer safety, local economic benefits, and added value. While NADA argues its points, there's no question that Tesla could easily turn around and argue right back with valid counter points. There may be some truth to NADA's claims, but there are some gaping holes in the arguments that can't be ignored, and I'm sure Tesla won't. Hey NADA, you scared?

Submission + - Elon Musk expects the Spanish Inquisition (businessinsider.com)

Submitted by Doofus
Doofus writes: Business Insider is running an article this morning about Elon Musk's fears of an AI-powered apocalypse. For a technology expert and inventor with Musk's credentials, explaining fears of technology may seem a bit incongruous. In a transcript of a CNBC interview with Elon Musk, the question of Musk's investment in an AI development firm came up, and he explains his reasoning for investing in the firm.

I was also an investor in DeepMind before Google acquired it and Vicarious. Mostly I sort of – it's not from the standpoint of actually trying to make any investment return. It's really, I like to just keep an eye on what's going on with artificial intelligence. I think there is potentially a dangerous outcome there and we need to –

Musk goes on to explain a bit more about his concerns and references Monty Python as he does it.

Submission + - Google's Going To Take On Apple's CarPlay

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: Come on, you didn't think Google was going to let Apple take over your car without a fight, did you? Of course not. Now that automakers are taking Apple's CarPlay system seriously, and starting to put it into production, Google's set to unveil its own automotive operating system known internally as Google Auto Link. The search giant plans to unveil its system at a software developer conference this month. Interestingly, Auto Link is the first production developed in conjunction with the Open Automotive Alliance, a group of companies including Audi, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, NVIDIA, and Google itself. Like CarPlay, Auto Link won't be an "embedded" system, rather, a "projected" one--an operating system that uses a driver's own smartphone operating system. We'll obviously learn details soon enough, but for now, we are left to wonder whether it'll be Apple or Google that ends up owning the automotive market.

Submission + - Chinese-Built Cars Are Coming To The U.S. Next Year

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: "Made In China." It's a sticker we all know too well here in the U.S., and yet, it seems not everything we buy is made in China. To date, there haven't been Chinese-built cars in the U.S., but we keep hearing they are coming. Now it seems it's about to become a reality, as Chinese-built Volvos will be arriving in the U.S. as early as 2015. The first model to arrive will be the S60L. The payoff for Volvo if it manages to convince buyers that its cars built in China are just as good as those currently built in Europe is vast. Not only will it save on production costs, but it will help buffer against exchange rate fluctuations. Volvo's planning to make China a manufacturing hub, and that makes sense since it's now owned by Chinese parent company Geely. But will Chinese-built cars be just as good as European-built cars, and will consumers be able to tell the difference?

Submission + - Wikipedia creates new rules, forcing editors to disclose if they're paid (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by mpicpp
mpicpp writes: The Wikimedia Foundation, a nonprofit which operates Wikipedia and related projects, explained yesterday that it will establish new rules covering paid editing.

The heart of the change is that anyone who is paid to edit the site must "add your affiliation to your edit summary, user page, or talk page, to fairly disclose your perspective," according to Wikimedia's explanation of the change. The organization has also published an FAQ on paid editing.

The changes come after some high-profile commotions over paid editing. In October, Wikipedia deleted more than 250 accounts believed to be connected to a PR firm that was writing articles on the site. In January, the Wikimedia Foundation fired an employee who was accused of taking paid editing gigs.

Submission + - Are U.S. Hybrid Sales Peaking Already?

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: The Toyota Prius is pretty darn popular, especially in California. One might think that hybrid sales are on the rise as gas prices continue to fluctuate, but it seems hybrid sales in the U.S. might be peaking. Researchers at IHS Automotive found that U.S. hybrid sales haven't kept pace with the rest of the market. In the automotive world, conventional wisdom states that adding a model to a brand or segment will increase sales--but that hasn't happened with hybrids. The number of hybrid offerings has almost doubled from 24 in 2009 to 47 in 2014--but U.S. hybrid sales haven't dramatically increased. In fact, hybrid market share actually declined from 2009 to 2010, and then again from 2013 to 2014. So if consumers aren't buying hybrids, what are they buying? It seems some hybrid early adopters are now switching to plug-in hybrids or electric cars stating that these models are just nicer to drive. Is this already the beginning of the end in some way for hybrids, or is it merely a blip on the sales chart?

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