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114 | The importance of paint in self-driving cars and voice-activated tech, is it worth it?
The importance of paint in self-driving cars and voice-activated tech, is it worth it?
In this episode, hear about how your voice is now an important part of technology, but is it really worth it? Another challenge for self-driving cars - the colour of the paint and Amazon has narrowed its search for its second headquarters down to 20 locations.
Show Notes:
CES 2018 has come and gone and one of the things that the media is doing is sifting through the many new tech that were on displayed at the event.
With the avalanche of so many cool tech ideas and products, one of the biggest things that really stands out about technology is our VOICE.
Our voice is playing a big part in technology. We can see that with the two biggest players on the market - Amazon and Google, but there are many other companies entering the race as well.
Apple has Siri, Samsung has Bixby, Facebook just announced connected home products. This trend is expected to continue on with many more digital assistants in the next few months and years.
If you think about smart speakers, that category of tech products is heating up as well. Google, Amazon and even Apple is trying to get into the race. Once again, it is about our voice interacting with tech.
Paint and self-driving cars
We have heard about many challenges and concerns about self-driving cars. But another one that popped up recently - is about the colour of the vehicle.
As you know dark colours absorb light, and therein is a problem. This means the lasers of autonomous vehicles don’t quite bounce off—or are unable to detect cars painted in black.
So, paint makers now have to work on a new type of paint that will reflect lasers to tell that a car is infront or behind.
The world’s largest producer of vehicle coatings, PPG Industries Inc., is engineering a paint that allows the near-infrared light emitted by lasers to pass through a dark car’s exterior layer and rebound off a reflective undercoat—making it visible to sensors. They got the idea from the purple eggplant, which uses a similar trick on farms to keep cool on hot days.
Natural Cycles and unwanted pregnancies
A little while ago, we talked about the much-hyped birth control app – Natural Cycles. It’s a contraceptive app that provides women with the best time to have sexual intercourse without the need for protection.
But this app has been reported to Swedish authorities after a hospital found 37 cases of unwanted pregnancies among women relying on the app for contraception.
TechBytes:
WhatsApp today officially launched its new WhatsApp Business app in select markets, including Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S., ahead of its planned worldwide rollout. The addition of business profiles and new messaging tools aimed at business customers is part of the company’s broader plan to generate revenue by charging larger enterprises for advanced tools to communicate with customers on the platform now used by over a billion people worldwide.
Instagram is continuing to build out its messaging section with a new feature that’s already found in popular apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. From the direct messages screen, people you follow or have previously chatted with can now see when you were last using Instagram. The new “Show Activity Status” option is enabled by default inside of Instagram’s settings. You can choose to toggle it off.
Amazon has narrowed the search for its second headquarters down to 20 locations from 238 proposals across North America. The company intends to work through this list and make a final pick by the end of 2018.
The only Canadian city that made this list is Toronto. Amazon says that it plans to “dive deeper into their proposals” and evaluate whether these locations can actually support the company’s plan to add up to 50,000 jobs.
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By WRLWND MediaThe importance of paint in self-driving cars and voice-activated tech, is it worth it?
In this episode, hear about how your voice is now an important part of technology, but is it really worth it? Another challenge for self-driving cars - the colour of the paint and Amazon has narrowed its search for its second headquarters down to 20 locations.
Show Notes:
CES 2018 has come and gone and one of the things that the media is doing is sifting through the many new tech that were on displayed at the event.
With the avalanche of so many cool tech ideas and products, one of the biggest things that really stands out about technology is our VOICE.
Our voice is playing a big part in technology. We can see that with the two biggest players on the market - Amazon and Google, but there are many other companies entering the race as well.
Apple has Siri, Samsung has Bixby, Facebook just announced connected home products. This trend is expected to continue on with many more digital assistants in the next few months and years.
If you think about smart speakers, that category of tech products is heating up as well. Google, Amazon and even Apple is trying to get into the race. Once again, it is about our voice interacting with tech.
Paint and self-driving cars
We have heard about many challenges and concerns about self-driving cars. But another one that popped up recently - is about the colour of the vehicle.
As you know dark colours absorb light, and therein is a problem. This means the lasers of autonomous vehicles don’t quite bounce off—or are unable to detect cars painted in black.
So, paint makers now have to work on a new type of paint that will reflect lasers to tell that a car is infront or behind.
The world’s largest producer of vehicle coatings, PPG Industries Inc., is engineering a paint that allows the near-infrared light emitted by lasers to pass through a dark car’s exterior layer and rebound off a reflective undercoat—making it visible to sensors. They got the idea from the purple eggplant, which uses a similar trick on farms to keep cool on hot days.
Natural Cycles and unwanted pregnancies
A little while ago, we talked about the much-hyped birth control app – Natural Cycles. It’s a contraceptive app that provides women with the best time to have sexual intercourse without the need for protection.
But this app has been reported to Swedish authorities after a hospital found 37 cases of unwanted pregnancies among women relying on the app for contraception.
TechBytes:
WhatsApp today officially launched its new WhatsApp Business app in select markets, including Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S., ahead of its planned worldwide rollout. The addition of business profiles and new messaging tools aimed at business customers is part of the company’s broader plan to generate revenue by charging larger enterprises for advanced tools to communicate with customers on the platform now used by over a billion people worldwide.
Instagram is continuing to build out its messaging section with a new feature that’s already found in popular apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. From the direct messages screen, people you follow or have previously chatted with can now see when you were last using Instagram. The new “Show Activity Status” option is enabled by default inside of Instagram’s settings. You can choose to toggle it off.
Amazon has narrowed the search for its second headquarters down to 20 locations from 238 proposals across North America. The company intends to work through this list and make a final pick by the end of 2018.
The only Canadian city that made this list is Toronto. Amazon says that it plans to “dive deeper into their proposals” and evaluate whether these locations can actually support the company’s plan to add up to 50,000 jobs.