The Car-bayashi Maru
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| The Car-bayashi Maru | |
| Number | 2793 |
| Broadcast Date | JUNE 23, 2016 |
| Episode Length | 44:42 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt |
| Guests | Justin Robert Young |
Self-driving cars have a no-win choice. And US President Barack Obama told Bloomberg he might become a silicon valley venture capitalist after his term is over. Justin Young and Tom Merritt discuss whether this is a horrible idea.
Guest
Headlines
- Alphabet subsidiary Google Fiber announced Wednesday that it will acquire Webpass, a San Francisco based fiber internet provider. Webpass operates in Miami and Boston, new markets for Google Fiber, as well as in Chicago, San Diego, and San Franscisco, where Google Fiber is already slated to roll out. Webpass focuses on providing fiber to large apartment complexes and businesses. The deal must pass regulatory scruitiny to close.
- Submitted by habichuelacondulce
- Instagram will begin offering translations for captions and comments next month. A translation button will appear on feed stories and profile bios. Instagram has not announced what languages the function will work with. Instagram is also rolling out an update to its Explore section that will recommend collections of videos to you. Instagram is launching with 20 curated channels around topics like comedians, cake decorating, pit bulls and more.
- Popular Mechanics reports a team of three psychologists and computer scientists, led by Jean-François Bonnefon at the University of Toulouse Capitole in France, just published a study of people’s attitudes towards self-driving cars in the journal Science. They conducted surveys using the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform between June and November 2015 paying 25 cents for each survey of a US resident. Here’s what they found. The large majority feel a self-driving car should sacrifice its passenger for the greater good. However when asked to choose between buying a care that chose the greater good vs buying a car programmed to protect the passenger at all costs, respondents preferred the car that protected the passenger. You can test your own reactions to these and other moral dilemmas at moralmachine.mit.edu.
- Boston Dynamics has a new big robot video. SpotMini is a smaller version of the AlphaDog robot - 55 pounds vs. 240. The two-foot tall quadruped is all electric, no hydraulics and can run for 90 minutes between charges. It has a manipulator arm that disturbingly is also its face, which can be used to gently manipulate objects, like loading glasses into a dishwasher. And yes, sorry it’s still a prototype.
- The Information reports Huawei is employing ex Nokia engineers to develop its own Mobile operating system. Huawei uses Android now, but wants an alternative in case its relationship with Google changes. Huawei is also making changes to its Android skin, EMUI, under the direction of former Apple designer Abigail Brody. The new skin is expected to be revealed in September.
- Singapore’s InMobi has agreed to pay $950,000 in civil penalties to the US FTC for tracking hundreds of millions of consumers over WiFi without consent. InMobi used BSSIDs of wireless access points to geotarget phone users even if they had not opted in to geotargeting. Thousands of iOS and Android apps used InMobi to deliver ads. InMobi has agreed to delete all information collected from children and all information collected without consent.
- A few days ago BitTorrent announced the spinoff of BitTorrent sync and enterprise services into a new company called Resilio. Today BitTorrent launched BitTorrent Now offering on-demand streaming of videos and music from independent artists. The service will also support VR. The app is available on Android today and coming shortly to iOS and Apple TV.
Discussion
- From the Oval Office to Investor-in-Chief: Obama considers a VC gig next
- The ‘Anti-Business’ President Who’s Been Good for Business
- Obama to Avoid Hot-Button Tech Issues During Silicon Valley Trip
Pick of the Day
- I am not pleased with the replacement of the headphone jack in phones but I love bluetooth in the car and I have a pick for a bluetooth adapter.
I'm using is the Kinivo … Works great (usually) and I can use a standard lightning cable to charge if I really need to. The only thing I'd caution listeners with is to check if your 12 volt outlet is switched or not. If it is you're golden. If not you have to remember to unplug it all the time or your phone will have no sound and you will be very confused. - Submitted by John in everything-is-going-to-be-on-fire-this-summer Billings, Montana
- I am not pleased with the replacement of the headphone jack in phones but I love bluetooth in the car and I have a pick for a bluetooth adapter.
Messages
- Hi Tom and Scott,
I work from home and my company uses video conferencing for meetings. I put tape over the camera on my laptop. I had a coworker who dialed in to a conference; his camera had become engaged, and everyone including his boss saw him drinking beer while working. That is a corporate no-no. Needless to say, there were repercussions from that infarction. Although I don't imbibe, I would be mortified if my camera was on and coworkers saw me bra-less with no makeup and my hair a hot mess. I love the show, and I have crush on Patrick Beja😀
Sincerely, - Sent by Tomatozoup
- Hi Tom and Scott,
- Regarding your discussion regarding covering your webcam. I use to work from home and I was always in WebEx meetings. I would keep my webcam covered so in case my camera got turned on, people wouldn't see me in my pajamas and bedhead....or worse (kidding). Just another use case for keeping your camera blocked.
Thanks, - Sent by Brian in Indy
- Regarding your discussion regarding covering your webcam. I use to work from home and I was always in WebEx meetings. I would keep my webcam covered so in case my camera got turned on, people wouldn't see me in my pajamas and bedhead....or worse (kidding). Just another use case for keeping your camera blocked.
YouTube
Links
| Preceded by: "We the E-People" |
The Car-bayashi Maru |
Followed by: "Blurgle is my Trigger" |