Science and Technology- Themuslimchronicle

Instagram, Google+ join EU group

Tue, 23 Jan 2018 08:39:12 GMT

Facebook's Instagram and the Google+ social network have agreed to join an EU-sponsored group of US internet giants to combat online extremism, EU officials said Friday.

EU officials added that the existing members -- YouTube, Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook -- have made progress toward meeting the code of conduct they signed up to in May 2016, promising to look at suspicious content within 24 hours and remove illegal material.

"Instagram has decided to join forces in the fight against illegal online hate speech and will now also apply the code of conduct," EU Justice and Consumer Affairs Commissioner Vera Jourova told reporters.

"And this morning I also received the message that Google+ is joining," she added.

The EU joined forces with US-based internet firms nearly two years ago amid growing alarm in Europe over the use of social media as a recruiting tool, especially by the Islamic State group.

Jourova said Friday she would continue having the industry regulate itself under the code of conduct after hailing progress among the internet firms to remove threatening material.

The commission said IT firms removed 70 percent of the illegal speech notified to them in the last few months, compared to 59 percent before May 2017, and 28 percent in the months after the code of conduct was launched.

Jourova also said Facebook had hired 3,500 new staff to fight online hate speech on top of the 4,500 existing employees.

She added that IT firms have also strengthened cooperation with civil society organisations, including training, to better detect and report suspected cases of hate speech.

"Having these quite positive results of this third assessment, I will be stronger in promoting my view that we should continue the way of doing this through the code of conduct method," Jourova said before meeting EU ministers of justice next week in Sofia.

The leaders of EU states last year urged internet firms to do their utmost to combat online extremism or face the possibility of legislation if the industry self-regulation fails. The Commission is the executive and regulatory arm of the 28-nation EU.

Source: AFP

Black NASA astronaut is replaced in sudden crew shuffle

Sun, 21 Jan 2018 07:36:48 GMT

Jeanette Epps, 46, a former CIA agent turned astronaut, was about to become the first African-American to embark on a mission lasting several months at the International Space Station.

It's still unclear why, but plans for her June liftoff suddenly changed, and another astronaut was chosen in her place, NASA has announced.

"A number of factors are considered when making flight assignments; these decisions are personnel matters, for which NASA doesn't provide information," US space agency spokeswoman Brandi Dean said in an email to AFP on Friday.

"Epps has returned to the active astronaut corps at Johnson Space Center to assume duties in the astronaut office," Dean added.

"She will be considered for assignment to future missions."

Epps was supposed to blast off aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan in June, to serve as a flight engineer on the ISS as part of Expedition 56, and remaining on board for Expedition 57. Each expedition's tour of duty typically lasts three months.

It would have been the New York native's first trip to space, and the first long-duration stay at the orbiting outpost by an African-American.

Six other African-American astronauts have traveled to the space station, but those were shorter missions during the space shuttle era when the ISS was being assembled.

NASA announced in a statement late Thursday that Serena Aunon-Chancellor, who was initially meant to fly on a later mission, will launch in June instead of Epps.

Aunon-Chancellor "joined the astronaut corps in 2009 and has been at NASA since 2006, when she became a flight surgeon," according to her biography.

"Before being selected as an astronaut, she spent more than nine months in Russia supporting medical operations for space station crew members, including water survival training in the Ukraine, and served as the deputy lead for medical operations for NASA's Orion spacecraft."

Epps earned her doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland in 2000.

"She spent seven years as a CIA technical intelligence officer before being selected as a member of the 2009 astronaut class," her biography says.

Source: AFP

A fake news article reports

Sun, 21 Jan 2018 06:57:28 GMT

On 16 June 2016, the web site TMZ World News (not affiliated with the gossip site TMZ) published an article reporting that Microsoft and Apple had teamed up to create a new penile implant that notifies spouses via cell phone alerts when their husbands are cheating on them:

Microsoft and Apple have joined forces to cut down on infidelity, save marriages and keep people in relationships accountable for their actions. Together, the technology giants have created a “genital implant” that will alert your cell phone if your partner goes astray. It is called Commit-Tech.

Commit-Tech is a tiny chip that will be implanted at the tip of the penis on the man and the vulva of the woman. These two microchips will be synced together with an app that is installed on your cell phone. If at any time, one of these chips is involved in any sexual activity without the other chip, it will alert the partners cell phone that the other has been cheating.

The above-quoted story was just another clickbait fabrication from TMZ World News, a fake news site:

Tmzworldnews.com is the most notorious satire website in the world with the most shocking Satire News to keep its visitors in a state of disbelief.

Europe's space agency braces

Sun, 21 Jan 2018 06:54:37 GMT

The European Space Agency (ESA) is drawing up contingency plans for projects, commercial deals, and staffing that may be adversely affected by Brexit, senior officials said Wednesday.

Programmes throw in flux by Britain's pending departure from the European Union (EU) include the Copernicus satellite constellation to monitor environmental damage, and the Galileo satellite navigation system.

"It is not an easy situation at all, I can tell you. We are going through the options," Josef Aschbacher, director of ESA's Earth observation activities, told journalists in Paris.

"What we have to do as ESA, we have to get ready for all these eventualities."

Britain's EU-linked participation in both programmes will come to an end after Brexit, unless it negotiates a specific deal, the ESA has said. When this would happen, is not clear.

But Britain will likely stay in the ESA, which is autonomous from the European Union.

The UK is one of 20 EU members of the agency, which also includes non-EU countries Norway and Switzerland.

The EU has forked out the bulk of Copernicus' budget of about seven billion euros ($8.5 billion) since 2002, though ESA also contributes.

So far, Europe has launched six satellites for Copernicus, which is designed to monitor Earth's atmosphere, forest cover changes, land and water pollution, and the aftermath of floods and earthquakes.

Copernicus will also improve emergency responses after natural disasters.

UK-based companies hold contracts worth tens of millions of euros from ESA to supply hardware for Copernicus and Galileo -- a rival to America's GPS which should be fully operational by 2020.

- What next? -

According to Philippe Michel of ESA's Galileo programme, Brexit has thrown up "several situations" for which solutions must be found.

These included "the issue of security" in a project that involves the sharing of military and other classified information between countries.

"There are situations of contracts which have already been placed, there are situations of procurements which are ongoing, or future procurements... We are discussing of course all that with the European Commission," Michel added.

ESA director general Jan Woerner insisted the agency was not "directly affected" by the British withdrawal, though "indirectly, we have some things where we are working on."

They include visas, medical insurance, retirement plans and other complications that will arise for British staff in Europe, and continental workers in the UK, once the rules change under Brexit.

"We are also looking in the discussion with the European Union, the European Commission, what happens with industrial activities coming from the UK," said Woerner.

ESA's EU policy office head Jean Bruston has previously said Britain could contribute to Galileo and Copernicus if it negotiated a third-party agreement with the EU, as Norway and Switzerland have done.

Source: AFP

Google, Tencent eye collaboration

Sat, 20 Jan 2018 12:16:16 GMT

Internet titans Google and Tencent on Friday signalled possible future collaboration on developing new technologies as the US and Chinese firms announced a long-term patent-sharing agreement.

The companies gave no details on the scope or nature of the potential cooperation but said in a joint statement that they "are open to deeper collaboration in the future on innovative new technologies".

"By working together on agreements such as this, tech companies can focus on building better products and services for their users," Google's head of patents, Mike Lee, was quoted saying.

Sam Xu, head of intellectual property at Tencent, added that the patent agreement would "advance the collaboration between two leading technology companies".

California-based Google already has similar cross-licensing tie-ups with Samsung, LG and others, which are typical industry arrangements between corporations designed to minimise patent infringements.

But any cooperation between the US search giant and China's all-conquering tech leader -- the world's second- and fifth-largest companies by market value, according to Bloomberg News -- is bound to generate buzz in the IT world.

Google effectively withdrew its search engine from China's heavily controlled internet landscape in 2010 in a row over censorship and cyber-attacks, and many of its services remain blocked.

But there have been hints of a thaw in relations.

Chinese internet regulators recently allowed access to its translation product, and last month Google announced it would open a new artificial intelligence research centre in Beijing.

The agreement with Tencent would apply to a broad range of products, the companies said, without giving any specifics.

Tencent operates China's ubiquitous WeChat messaging platform and is the country's leader in social media and gaming.

It is pushing to build up its entertainment and gaming businesses and has signalled plans to buy studios, expand into content creation and diversify overseas

Australia lifesaving drone makes first rescue

Fri, 19 Jan 2018 06:25:11 GMT

A pair of Australian swimmers on Thursday became the first people to be rescued in the ocean by a drone when the aerial lifesaver dropped a safety device to distressed teens caught in rough seas.

Australia is leading the use of the technology in surf lifesaving, with dozens of drones being trialled on beaches around the country.

In what is believed to be a world-first drone surf rescue, two boys on Thursday got caught in three-metre (10-foot) swells while swimming off Lennox Head in New South Wales, near the border with Queensland.

Beachgoers onshore raised the alarm to the lifeguards who then alerted the drone pilot, and the aerial lifesaver was deployed in moments.

"I was able to launch it, fly it to the location, and drop the pod all in about one to two minutes," lifeguard supervisor Jai Sheridan told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

"On a normal day that would have taken our lifeguards a few minutes longer to reach the members of the public."

Other than a little weary from their experience the pair were reportedly unharmed.

Along with their ability to spot swimmers in trouble and deliver life saving devices faster than traditional lifesaving techniques, like launching surfboards or rubber dinghies, drones are being used in Australia to spot underwater predators like sharks and jellyfish.

Artificial intelligence is being developed using thousands of images captured by a drone camera to build an algorithm that can identify different ocean objects.

The software can differentiate between sea creatures, like sharks which it can recognise with more than 90 percent accuracy, compared to about 16 percent with the naked eye.

Some beaches in Australia have shark nets, but a government report last year called for their phasing out in favour of exploring a range of alternatives, including sonar technology and aerial patrols.

The inquiry found that nets did not guarantee public safety any more than other deterrents but caused significant damage to marine life.

Source: AFP

French glitches put technology under review

Thu, 18 Jan 2018 06:28:09 GMT

The debate on using technology to help football referees took a twist on Thursday as the French league suspended its use of goal-line reviews following some "serious dysfunctions".

The goal-line technology (GLT) system, provided by German company GoalControl, was "suspended immediately" by French football authorities after incidents in League Cup games on Wednesday between Amiens and Paris Saint-Germain and Angers and Montpellier.

In Amiens, the problem centred around PSG's second goal in a 2-0 victory. Adrien Rabiot's flicked header hit the post and bounced over the line before goalkeeper Jean-Christophe Bouet pulled the ball back. However "the GLT did not make the referee's watch vibrate", Didier Quillot, the director general of the French league said in a conference call on Thursday.

In the second incident, which involved Montpellier defender Daniel Congre, the problem was the reverse. The technology "made the referee's watch vibrate in error even though the ball taken by Daniel Congre passed far from the goal line".

"These two anomalies are unacceptable," Quillot said.

Unlike the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), which is being tried this season in the Bundesliga and Serie A and has been used for the first time in England in cup games in recent weeks, and involves an extra official watching replays, GLT is supposed to respond automatically when the ball crosses the goal line between the posts.

In October, Suzana Castaignede, a former GoalControl employee, told French media that the system did not always function automatically and that sometimes human operators had to intervene and make the referee's watch vibrate after the ball had crossed the line.

On Thursday, the French league signalled it might cancel the contract with GoalControl which is due to run until 2019 and turn instead to its costlier British competitor Hawk-Eye which supplies Serie A, the Premier League and the Bundesliga.

"The technology has to work," said Quillot. "That's not the case with the first-generation that is being delivered by GoalControl."

Perhaps France has reasons to look kindly on GoalControl. The company provided the GLT which was used at the World Cup in Brazil in 2014. It awarded one goal: scored by France against Honduras.

- Ferocious debate -

These French hiccups come as the debate over technological assistance for referees, whether it is GLT or VAR, is being ferociously debated.

For the coming World Cup in Russia, FIFA will again rely on GLT but has not yet decided whether to use VAR, though the governing body of world football has indicated that it would like to in four cases: goals, penalties, straight red cards and mistaken identity.

The experiments with VAR in Germany and Italy are meeting with resistance.

In Italy, Lazio fans launched a legal action on December 20 against the referee and video assistant who they say are to blame for two errors that caused their club to lose 3-1 at home to Torino nine days earlier.

In Germany, the Bundesliga boasted that in the first half of the season VAR helped prevent 37 potential result-changing wrong decisions. Yet in November, ex-referee Hellmut Krug, head of the Bundesliga's VAR centre in Cologne, was replaced amid accusations that he influenced decisions to favour Schalke, the club he supports.

This week, in a survey published in Kicker magazine, 47 per cent of German professional players said they wanted VAR done away with while only 42 per cent wanted to keep it (the other 11 per cent had no opinion).

In November, Germany internationals Sandro Wagner and Sami Khedira agreed they liked the theory of VAR but not the implementation.

"We have to wait two minutes to get a decision and despite the video, too many mistakes are still being made," Wagner said.

Khedira made a point that was echoed by Rabiot after his goal on Wednesday was not immediately given.

"The players do not know anymore whether or not to celebrate after a goal," Khedira said. "A lot of emotion and passion has been lost."

In England, VAR made its debut on Monday as Brighton beat Crystal Palace in the FA Cup with an 87th-minute goal by Glenn Murray. At the final whistle, Palace players were still complaining to referee Andre Marriner that the goal should have been disallowed either by him or by video assistant Neil Swarbrick.

"The people close to it seemed to be incensed, and from our angle it looks as if he's guided the ball in with his arm," Palace manager Roy Hodgson said before adding that the replays had changed his mind.

"When you watch it lots of times like they've been able to do, from different angles, it would have been very harsh" to disallow it.

"It was a genuine goal."

Source: AFP

Bitcoin bombs, cryptocoins crash

Wed, 17 Jan 2018 07:48:46 GMT

Bitcoin, the best known of hundreds of 'virtual' coins, slumped on Tuesday, January 16, to a 6-week low below $12,000 as analysts blamed a rush by various jurisdictions to regulate the sector.

The final weeks of last year were marked by bitcoin mania as the unit topped $20,000, but it lost some 20% in Tuesday trading which saw most of its fellow cryptocurrencies similarly wilt.

"Bitcoin has dropped below $12,000, a level not seen since early December. The cryptocurrency has fallen nearly 40 percent since its all-time high," noted David Madden, market analyst with CMC Markets.

According to crypto exchange coinmarketcap.com, other major virtual currencies ethereum, ripple and bitcoin cash, a clone which split from the original last year, posted double-digit losses by early afternoon.

"Explaining moves in bitcoin is always tricky but this plunge ... may well be a result of recent signs that regulatory pressures are building," said Neil Wilson, analyst for ETX Capital, as several countries, notably China and South Korea, target a crackdown.

Last week saw prices sag after the South Korean government said it was planning to ban cryptocurrency exchanges – though it later backtracked – while Justice Minister Park Sang-Ki said Seoul was preparing a bill to shut down the country's virtual coin exchanges to slam the brakes on a craze which "has started to resemble gambling and speculation."

South Korea is a hotbed for cryptocurrency trading, accounting for some 20% of global bitcoin transactions, while much of the "mining" – computerised creation – of the coin units is undertaken in China.

"South Korea holds some of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, so a ban is expected to disrupt Bitcoin trading," said a note from British consultancy Capital Economics, which also alluded to Chinese concerns of bitcoins's effect on financial stability.

Lukman Otunuga, research analyst at FXTM forex forecaster, also blamed the market jitters on the political regulatory backdrop surrounding the sector, which topped $600 billion in market capitalisation in mid-December.

"Bitcoin was the talk across financial markets for all the wrong reasons on Tuesday, after prices tumbled sharply to their weakest level since early December," said Otunuga, noting talk of tighter regulation "has effectively eroded investor appetite for bitcoin.

"With reports on a renewed crackdown on the cryptocurrency in China fueling anxiety over future restrictions, further losses could be on the cards in the near term," added Otunuga, noting the latest wild ride in value "should remind investors on how explosively volatile and unpredictable" cryptocurrencies can be.

Source: AFP

Sony unleashes 'intelligent' robot pet

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 07:28:55 GMT

As Japan celebrates the year of the dog, electronics giant Sony on Thursday unleashed its new robot canine companion, packed with artificial intelligence and internet connectivity.

The sleek ivory-white puppy-sized "aibo" robot shook its head and wagged its tail as if waking from a nap when it was taken out of a cocoon-shaped case at a "birthday ceremony" held in Tokyo.

Naohiro Sugimoto, a 7-year-old boy from Tokyo, was among the first to get his hands on the shiny new toy, which he described as "heavy but cute."

"The dog we had previously died ... We bought this robot dog as we wanted a (new) family," he said.

The one-foot-long hound-like machine comes complete with flapping ears and its eyes, made of a cutting-edge light-emitting display, can show various emotions.

Aibo is also fitted with an array of sensors, cameras and microphones and boasts internet connectivity.

The owner can play with the pet remotely via smartphone and even teach it tricks from the office for the faithful hound to perform when its "master" gets home.

It builds up a "character" by interacting with people and while not always submissive, it is friendly towards those who are kind to it.

What the machine "learns" is stored in the cloud so its "character" can be preserved even in the event of hardware damage.

Photos it takes can also be shared.

But such cutting-edge canine technology does not come cheap, with the aibo costing nearly $3,000 for a three-year package, including software services such as data storage.

'Touches a chord'

Aibo is not the Japanese electronic giant's first foray into the animal robot entertainment world.

Its earlier robot dog was put to sleep more a decade ago — a victim of business restructuring — shocking fans.

Sony rolled out the first-generation dog in June 1999, with the initial batch of 3,000 selling out in just 20 minutes, despite a hefty price tag of 250,000 yen ($2,200 at current rates).

Over the following years, more than 150,000 units were sold, with numerous models ranging from gleaming metallic-silver versions to round-faced cub-like models.

But by 2006, Sony was in trouble. Its business model was under pressure and it was facing fierce competition from rivals in all fields. The robot dog, an expensive and somewhat frivolous luxury, had to go.

Yasuyuki Nakamura, another owner of the new-generation dog, his third robot pet, said he was happy to see the dog back in Sony's catalog. "I had been waiting (for a new aibo). I ordered one as I was happy to see this kind of business was revived," the 46-year-old said.

A middle-aged couple said they bought the robot for their 25th anniversary this year.

Sony plans to release the new aibo overseas as well but no details are set yet.

The dog does not speak human languages or perform tasks such as turning a light on.

But that is not the point of the product, according to Sony's Izumi Kawanishi, who is in charge of the project.

"You don't think about what the dog can do when you want to get a dog, do you?" he asked reporters. "The point is that it touches a chord (with people)," he said.

Source: AFP

Cryptocurrency rivals snap at Bitcoin's heels

Mon, 15 Jan 2018 08:17:32 GMT

Bitcoin is on the rise against the U.S. dollar, but a look at all of its relevant trading pairs (LTC/BTC, ETH/BTC) suggests the move to $20,000 could take longer than expected.

The world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has traded more or less sideways over the last few days as the alternative currencies rallied sharply to new highs. But, as discussed yesterday, the lackluster action in BTC could be due to the rotation of money from BTC (large cap) and into alternative currencies (or so-called small caps).

This flow of money is best represented by the bullish break seen in cross cryptocurrency charts – i.e. ETH/BTC, LTC/BTC, BCH/BTC and XRP/BTC. For example, a rally in ETH/BTC could be an indication that the money is flowing out of bitcoin and into ether (ETH).

That said, a sharp pullback in the altcoins seems to have put a mild bid under bitcoin (BTC) today.

As per CoinMarketCap, bitcoin (BTC) has appreciated 7.57 percent in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, ether (ETC), bitcoin cash (BCH) and litecoin (LTC) have dropped 6 percent, 8 percent, and 10 percent, respectively.

While tables appear to have turned in favor of bitcoin again, the charts suggest relief could be transient.

source: AFP

Top takeaways from Consumers Electronics Show

Sun, 14 Jan 2018 07:48:52 GMT

The 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, which concluded Friday in Las Vegas, drew some 4,000 exhibitors from dozens of countries and more than 170,000 attendees, showcased some of the latest from the technology world.

Here are highlights from the show:

Artificial intelligence battle

The duel between Amazon and Google for supremacy in artificial intelligence played out at the show. Amazon pushed its "Alexa Everywhere" strategy bringing its digital assistant to eyewear, wristwatches, televisions and even a toilet.

Not to be outdone, Google counterattacked with deals of its own, and with a massive ad campaign including a two-story "Google Assistant Playground" complete with a spiral slide from the roof to the pavement.

The rival virtual assistants were part of a larger trend to "smart" homes and cites where door locks, lights, security systems, traffic, and more are commanded or coordinated with the help of internet connections and machine brains.

Compassionate robots

Tech developers began moving beyond artificial intelligence to "emotional intelligence" and empathy with robots that can recognize people and their feelings, and respond in a more human manner.

Those on display included a ping pong-playing robot from Japan's Omron Automation which adapts its game to its opponent by reading body language. SoftBank robot Pepper entertained guests in a private suite adjacent to the show.

Revving up car tech

More players began gunning for Tesla with premium electric cars, including Chinese startup Byton and a revamped startup led by designer Henrik Fisker.

The show included a large presence from automakers and showed a commitment to advancing self-driving cars.

South Korea's Hyundai showed its new Nexo vehicle, betting on fuel cell technology, while Toyota unveiled a concept of an autonomous box for ridesharing and retail service.

Beyond the car

Even as car tech was on display, industry players sought to showcase alternative transport options. These included a self-driving motorcycle from Yamaha, and a range of electric bicycles, scooters, and hoverboards.

"We are seeing with personal mobility that some people like to skate; some people like to scoot, and some people like to ride," Swagtron chief operating officer Andrew Koven said as he unveiled a line of rideable gadgets.

Let's get medical

The tech world took a deep dive into the medical field, using virtual reality and sensors for health and medical applications.

Exhibitors showed how tracking and sensors used in self-driving cars can help keep the elderly from wandering off or determining distress. Other devices offered new ways to deal with stress and pain, or predict the onset of disease.

Medical professionals at a CES conference discussed how new pain management techniques such as virtual reality could help address the opioid addiction crisis.

Virtual reality headsets have been used to take people's minds off pain by immersing them in soothing environments. VR programs have also eased trauma by letting patients work through troubling experiences.

Sensors and the cloud

Sensors, cloud computing and artificial intelligence are becoming so ubiquitous and affordable that they are popping up in tech items tailored for pets, babies, seniors, new moms and other niche categories.

From wearable breast pumps to hip air bags triggered when people fall, and dog or cat doors that open automatically for pets, internet age innovations are reaching into the farthest corner of everyday life.

On the lighter side

Streaming television powerhouse Netflix played with people's minds with a booth for a fictitious company named Psychasec that offered replacement bodies in a promise of immortality.

It turned out to be a promotion for a coming Netflix show titled "Altered Carbon," set to debut in February.

Other offbeat items at the event included self-driving suitcases which follow its owners through airports and navigate around obstacles.

Outside the official show, robotic pole-dancers made their Las Vegas debut at a nightclub, with the artist who created the devices seeking to make a point about technology, surveillance and voyeurism in today's society.

The show was marked by a rain and flooding in usually dry Las Vegas, and a power outage in the main convention hall.

source: AFP

Man's best friend goes high tech

Sun, 14 Jan 2018 07:41:17 GMT

Technology is going to the dogs. And to cats and horses, for that matter, as high-end gadgetry showcased at this week's Consumer Electronics Show offered ways that smart devices can improve the lives of animals and their human friends -- starting with a good night's rest.

US-based Petrics was at the show with what it billed as the first pet smart bed, capable of keeping tabs on their weight and time spent lounging.

The soon-to-be-released bed cools or warms to provide comfy temperatures for naps, and synchronizes to activity trackers that monitor how much exercise they are getting so that owners get a complete daily report.

An array of firms meanwhile showed off wearable devices to monitor pets on the move, aiming to consign neighborhood "lost" posters to history.

Among them was Whistle, which is up to a third-generation device equipped with GPS and mobile network capabilities.

Custom "safe zones" can be set up around a home and if pets wander out-of-bounds their humans will get smartphone messages allowing them to pinpoint where their pooch, or kitty, is on the map.

"If your pet gets out they can be missing for hours or days," said Whistle spokesperson Heather Wajer.

"You can put up posters around the neighborhood and search for them, or you can just look at your phone and see where they are."

- Fido calls home -

Leaving your pet behind at home can cause anxiety both for humans and their animals.

While home cameras that can stream feeds via the internet have been around for some time, Petcube has improved on the basic concept by introducing "smart" elements.

With the help of artificial intelligence, pets movements in front of its camera will trigger a video call to their human's phone as well as a preview "pet selfie" clip.

Its device also comes with laser pointers allowing people to remotely play with their furry friends if they're getting bored, and even reward good behavior by firing off treats during calls.

Petcube co-founder and chief executive Yaroslav Azhnyuk estimated that 40 million households will use connected pet devices by the year 2022.

Meanwhile, startup Pebby is working on a "smart robotic ball" with built-in camera, wi-fi, Bluetooth and laser pointer capabilities, affording more opportunities to play remotely.

- Taking care of kitty's business -

Cleaning your feline friend's litter box is an unpleasant but necessary task, unless you (and house guests) are prepared to stomach a strong stench.

Now, though, automated boxes are at hand that use sensors to detect when the animal enters and leaves the unit, before giving the litter time to clump, then sifting through it and depositing the waste into a carbon-filtered drawer.

Litter-Robot sales hit new highs on Black Friday and Cyber Monday due to the release of a smartphone application that gets data about kitty's daily visits to the feline loo, according to founder Brad Baxter.

When animals left home alone need to get outside to take care of business, they can now do so through PetWALK pet doors -- sturdy barriers that are more secure and airtight than flaps, and are automatically triggered by RFID pendants.

French saddle maker CWD meanwhile was at CES with what it billed as the first smart saddle tailored for the equestrian sport of jumping.

Technology in saddles gathers data about stride, approach, recovery and more, then sends it to smartphones and pairs it with video so riders can improve performance, research and development engineer Camille Hebert told AFP.

CWD has partnered with French start-up Arioneo to weave in an "iPulse" strap that adds data about a horse's heart rate.

"Everything in our lives is smart," said Whistle's Wajer. "If technology can help make our pets lives better, than that is fantastic."

Source: AFP

Japan's 'Virtual Currency Girls' debut

Sat, 13 Jan 2018 08:45:29 GMT

Japan's latest "idol" band, the Virtual Currency Girls, took to the stage for their debut concert Friday to educate the public about cryptocurrencies -- playing to frenzied fans waving their arms and chanting together.

"Our brains are fried as we are studying every day" about virtual currencies, said the group's leader Rara Naruse, 18, as they began their live concert in Tokyo.

The band hopes to promote the idea "through entertainment" that virtual currencies are not just a tool for speculation but are a wonderful technology, she said.

Each of the eight girls in the band, known in Japanese as "Kasotsuka Shojo", plays a character representing a virtual currency such as bitcoin, ethereum or ripple.

Wearing character masks, frilly mini-skirts and "maid" aprons complete with knee-high socks, they performed in a small hall packed with dozens of hand-picked fans and media people.

Their tunes included their debut song, "The Moon and Virtual Currencies and Me", which warns against fraudulent operators and urges people to make sure of their online security.

In keeping with the theme, fans were required to pay 0.001 bitcoin (around $15) -- to take a picture with one of his favourite performer. The price includes a hand-shake and some small-talk.

The girls are paid in bitcoin and payment for admission to future performances and merchandise will only be accepted in virtual currencies.

Their message appeared to be getting through.

One fan, 43-year-old Hiroshi Kasahara, who runs an ad agency, said: "I have been trading stocks and forex but not bitcoin or other virtual currencies as I was a bit scared of them."

"But I feel like opening an account" if the group accepts payment only in virtual currencies, he told AFP.

Makoto Sato, 42, said the idol group had given him "a good introduction" to the world of cryptocurrencies.

"I may well give it a try as it can be a catalyst to make life more convenient and fun," said the 42-year-old office worker.

At the end of the performance, fans cheered and clapped, with one screaming out: "Can't stop loving you!"

The group is tapping into a rich seam in Japan, where bitcoin is recognised as legal tender.

Nearly one-third of global bitcoin transactions in December were denominated in yen, according to specialised website jpbitcoin.com.

The group's launch comes on the heels of a recent market frenzy which boosted bitcoin up to nearly $20,000.

SpaceX says rocket worked fine

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 10:03:50 GMT

A SpaceX rocket worked fine in its weekend launch of a secretive government satellite, named Zuma, the company said Tuesday after reports the payload did not make it into orbit.

"For clarity: after review of all data to date, Falcon 9 did everything correctly on Sunday night," said Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of California-based SpaceX.

"If we or others find otherwise based on further review, we will report it immediately," she said in a statement.

"Information published that is contrary to this statement is categorically false. Due to the classified nature of the payload, no further comment is possible."

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report late Monday that the billion-dollar payload did not make it into orbit and was "presumed to be a total loss," citing unnamed government and industry officials.

The secretive payload was "believed to have plummeted back into the atmosphere, they said, because it didn't separate as planned from the upper part of the rocket," said the report.

The nature of the mission remains shrouded in mystery.

Neither industry nor government officials would comment on the purpose of Zuma. Northrop Grumman made the satellite, which it said was for the government and was destined for low-Earth orbit, but offered no other details.

During the launch Sunday night from Cape Canaveral, Florida, SpaceX did not report any problems.

The company's live webcast did not show video coverage of the Zuma spacecraft after it separated from the first stage of the rocket, but confirmed that the fairings deployed and the payload was on its way to low-Earth orbit.

The fairing is the part of the rocket nose cone that holds the payload and splits apart at the proper time, so the satellite can slip into orbit.

The launch was initially planned for November but was postponed so that SpaceX could "take a closer look at data from recent fairing testing for another customer," SpaceX said on Twitter at the time.

Shotwell said no changes are expected in SpaceX's upcoming launch schedule "since the data reviewed so far indicates that no design, operational or other changes are needed."

SpaceX has launched national security payloads in the past, including a spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office, and an X-37B space plane for the US Air Force.

The CEO of SpaceX is Elon Musk, the South African-born inventor and entrepreneur who is also behind electric car-maker Tesla.

Source: AFP