Despite years of advances in automation of the production of bricks, turning them into a structure is still a tedious, manual process. That’s why an Australian engineer’s latest project could revolutionise the construction industry. Mark Pivac has built a fully-automated bricklaying robot, which he claims is a world first. “We’re at a technological nexus where a few different technologies have got to the level where it’s now possible to do
A team of German engineers competing in Google’s Lunar Xprize has struck a deal with Audi to design a rover that could one day drive on the Moon. The carmaker will offer the group, called Part-Time Scientists, its four-wheel drive technology, as well as expertise in lightweight construction, electric mobility and piloted driving. Google’s competition will award $30 million to the first team that can get a rover to the
Introduction and design When Lenovo unveiled the $1,499, NEC-made LaVie Z HZ550 (US-only, but about £952, AU$1,936) at CES 2015, it caused an uproar in the tech industry. This 1.87-pound (0.78kg) notebook had broken the record for the lightest laptop on the market. Its cousin, the $1,699 LaVie Z 360 (also US-only, but about £1,079, AU$2,195) – a 2.04-pound (0.92kg) hybrid device – would do the same for 2-in-1 laptops.
Imagine pressing a button on your smartphone to conjure up a meteor shower. That’s the vision of a Japanese entrepreneur preparing to launch a satellite that would make it possible to release man-made-meteors. “It is artificial but I want to make really beautiful ones that can impress viewers,” Lena Okajima, who has a PhD in Astronomy, told AFP in an interview. “I’m thinking of streams of meteors that are rare
There has been a lot of confusion over how to get Windows 10 for free when it launches. For now, anyone can get what is technically the beta version gratis. You just need to enroll in the Windows Insider Programme (you will need a MSA or Microsoft account, Skype or Outlook or Hotmail) and download the Windows 10 preview. However, not only will this version, the insider preview, going to
U.S. intelligence chief James Clapper said on Thursday that China was the top suspect in the massive hacking of a U.S. government agency that compromised the personnel records of millions of Americans. The comments from Clapper, the director of National Intelligence (DNI), were first reported in The Wall Street Journal and marked the first time the Obama administration has publicly accused Beijing of the hacking attacks on the Office of
A robust cyber security insurance policy can be tricky to procure, even for the most meticulous wealth management firms. Interest in cyber insurance has surged over the past year following a number of high-profile hackings, including one announced earlier this month involving the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. In response, many industries and the financial services industry in particular, have stepped up their vigilance against cyber crimes.
(Reuters) – Charter Communications Inc formally argued for regulatory approval for its Time Warner Cable Inc and Bright House Networks deals, saying consumers would benefit as Internet services would become cheaper and faster. Charter said in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday that it would not block or suppress Internet traffic or prioritize content for a fee and that its broadband services would cost less than
By Paul Carsten BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s dominant taxi-hailing app Didi Kuaidi told shareholders on Friday it had three times the number of daily private car trips than Uber Technologies Inc just weeks after its U.S. rival boasted of similar successes in a letter to investors. Didi Kuaidi, which controls 80 percent of China’s private car hailing market and whose parent company is Xiaoju Kuaizhi, last week started to raise
By Paul Carsten and Engen Tham BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s No. 2 e-commerce firm JD.com Inc is launching a Chinese consumer credit data system as a joint venture with U.S. credit-scoring technology company ZestFinance, taking on a rival service linked to the larger Alibaba Group Holding Ltd . JD-ZestFinance Gaia, as the joint venture will be known, will use the U.S. firm’s machine learning technology to analyze JD.com’s online shoppers’