17526128
submission
bossanovalithium writes:
A vending machine in Japan which recommends drinks to customers based on facial recognition data has tripled sales.
JR East Water Business has previously installed two vending machines in JR Shinagawa station and it is believed that the recognition technology is responsible for a vast increase in sales in comparison to traditional machines.
The vending machines recommend beverages after physical attributes of customers are picked up by sensors which allow the machines determine age, sex and other attributes, before offering a number of suggestions.
17255478
submission
bossanovalithium writes:
It's what every mountaineer wants they reach the summit of Mount Everest, 3G high speed communication. "Hi honey, I'm on top of the world".
Those who have trekked it to the top will soon able to call their mates, go on Facebook or Twitter and boast that they've got there thanks to TeliaSonera and its subsidiary in Nepal, Ncell, which have bought 3G to the Mount Everest area.
Climbers who reached Everest's 8,848-metre peak previously depended on expensive and erratic satellite phone coverage and a voice-only network set up by China Mobile in 2007 on the Chinese side of the mountain.
17255202
submission
bossanovalithium writes:
Four driverless electric vans successfully ended a 13,000-kilometre test drive from Italy to China which mirrored the journey from East to West carried out by Marco Polo in the Middle Ages.
The four vans, packed with navigation gear and other computer software drove themselves Across Eastern Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan and the Gobi Desert without getting lost.
The vans arrived at Shanghai Expo. They had been equipped with four solar-powered laser scanners and seven video cameras that work together to detect and avoid obstacles.
16969664
submission
bossanovalithium writes:
Carnegie Mellon University has taught a computer how to read and learn from the internet.
According to Dennis Baron at the Oxford University press blog, the computer is called NELL and it is reading the internet and learning from it in much the same way that humans learn language and acquire knowledge. Basically by soaking it all up and figuring it out.
NELL is short for Never Ending Language Learner and apparently it is getting brainier every day.
16013864
submission
bossanovalithium writes:
We can fly to the Moon but we can't have a phone call with reasonable quality. Why? TechEye talks to Xconnect's Eli Katz on how we can hear each other better and what's in the pipeline for telecoms the world over.
Back in 1936 — 74 years ago — boffins accepted that about 3.3Khz was the accepted frequency that telephone calls are going to run on and it's been like that, generally, ever since. Call quality is reasonable but leaves a lot to be desired. Think calls from Skype to Skype where quality is often crystal clear.
15937564
submission
bossanovalithium writes:
The idea is that the parts will make external power sources redundant — because they can convert energy from body heat, light and vibrations straight into electricity. Self powered electronics have already sporadically been used in technology like wall-mount remote control units for air conditioners, says Nikkei, but existing parts are bulky and cost a couple thousand yen a piece. 3,000 yen is about $35 — which means they're not the best bet, financially, yet.
Other bits and pieces where the self powered sensors could be used are boilers and, er, pacemakers. If something requires a battery that's difficult to change, the sensors would be ideal as they'll keep the pacemaker ticking instead of the user dropping dead because he's not a surgeon or there aren't enough AAA's in the house.
An umbrella consortium comprising such names as Panasonic and Toyota are workignon bringing the rpice of self powered parts down to levels where they can be mass produced.
