Via Business Insider:
Today, both Theresa and Matthew are walking again thanks to the game-changing technology developed by ReWalk Robotics and Ekso Bionics.
Both companies have developed bionic suits that give people with lower limb disabilities the ability to stand up and walk again. Theresa, who uses the ReWalk, tells us that walking with the bionic suit is "very effortless."
It will only get better.
Via Instapundit and Parabolic Arc:
From Mojave, it’s a drive of nearly 50 miles through the sagebrush and Joshua trees, around dry Koehn Lake, and through the old mining towns of Randsburg and Johannesburg before you reach the unmarked dirt road leading to the site. A half mile of bad road later, you arrive at the modest but heartfelt memorial to one of America’s forgotten space heroes.
It was on this spot where [Major Michael K.] Adams and a large section of his X-15 rocket plane came to rest on Nov. 15, 1967.
Mojave Journal: Memorial to a Forgotten Astronaut at Parabolic Arc
Little known, but not forgotten, thanks to the efforts of a Boy Scout.
Via Science 2.0:
CNN estimates that smart homes will grow from a $10 billion business this year to a $44 billion industry by 2017. It will happen because there will be no more thinking about Bluetooth or Wi-Fi or broadband, the smart home hub will eliminate the chaos. Smart homes use mesh networks, so there is always more than one way that a command can be received, even over radio or electrical lines inside the walls.
Looks like contractors will need new skill sets or a new set of subcontractors.
Via Drudge and Mail Online:
TrueNorth is the world’s first neurosynaptic computer chip because it can figure things out on its own.
It has one million ‘neurons’ and could cram the same power as a super computer into a circuit the size of a postage stamp.
TrueNorth will use closely interconnected ‘neurons’ just like the brain does meaning that it can work proactively to a level not seen before.
In addition to the one million ‘neurons’ it has 256 million programmable synapses, the most IBM has ever put in a chip.
IBM develops computer chip with a million 'neurons' that 'functions like human brain' | Mail Online
More importantly, the system will be able to portray emotions and personality in a way that will bind humans and machines more closely.
Via Drudge and CBS Charlotte:
52 percent of respondents said that historically technology has ultimately created more jobs than it has displaced. They said people will find other forms of work that only human beings can perform; that the technological advances will give us all more time and energy to do more meaningful work.
But the other 48 percent fear that the roll of artificial workers will be unstoppable and that humans will not be able to adjust in time to avoid massive unemployment and social disruption.
A majority of the respondents did agree that the best way to make future technologies work for us is to improve education and training for all people.
Report: Robots Will Take Over More Jobs Than They Create « CBS Charlotte
What do you think?
Via Arts and Letters Daily and Prospect Magazine:
the spread of depression is partly a side-effect of our addiction to happiness. Conversely, understanding why we are so miserable should liberate us from being too miserable about it. We can feel good about feeling bad. In other words, we need a decent philosophy of failure to save everyone from thinking what failures they are.
Against happiness: Why we need a philosophy of failure | Prospect Magazine
Points:
What’s missing is a discussion of hope. Does happiness pertains to the here and now while hope pertains to certainty about the future?
Via Strategy Page:
…cartels flew approximately 150 drone smuggling missions in 2012. The drones transport high value drugs such as cocaine.
Looks like they beat Amazon.
Via Business Insider”":
The best way to institutionalise decluttering is to force managers to justify any bureaucracy they introduce. Seagate Technology, a data-storage company, and Boeing, an aircraft-maker, both hold their executives accountable for the "organisational load" that they impose on their subordinates in terms of meetings, memos and initiatives, and measure them against their peers. As Bain points out, the most valuable resource that many companies have is the time of their employees. And yet they are typically far less professional about managing that time than they are at managing their financial assets.
Some challenging points about simplifying a company with emphasis on killing meetings.
Via Business Insider:
Accidentally buy much more than you intended?
You may not have been planning on it, but the store certainly was. From supermarkets to clothing boutiques, shopping hubs are carefully engineered to get you to spend the most money possible.
Want to beat retailers at their own game? Then you'd better learn how they think.
Does the store you shop at do all these things?
Via Business Insider:
…how are the "things" in the Internet of Things actually put together? What elevates an object or device from normal status to a sensor-laden node in the soon-to-be-massive Internet Of Things?
A useful primer for understanding the online universe of things.
Via Instapundit and Bloomberg:
…the decision was celebrated by labor groups and decried by the retail industry, which said it threatens a system that employs millions of Americans. If upheld, the determination may bring McDonald’s to the table during collective bargaining, making unions more powerful. McDonald’s also could face more scrutiny, said Christine Owens, executive director for the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group for low-wage workers.
Minimum-Wage Activists See Opportunity in McDonald’s Decision – Bloomberg
I would say Instapundit has a point.