New Florence. New Renaissance.

Samsung’s Safety Truck

The Safety Truck consists of a wireless camera attached to the front of the truck, which is connected to a video wall made out of four exterior monitors located on the back of the truck. The monitors give drivers behind the truck a view of what is going on ahead, even in the dark of night.

This allows drivers to have a better view when deciding whether it is safe to overtake. Another advantage of the Safety Truck is that it may reduce the risk of accidents caused by sudden braking or animals crossing the road.

Samsung Tomorrow – the pilot of Samsung displays is from Argentina

 

 

Cyberwarriors

The first two-thirds of the cyber analysis course consist of mundane but essential subjects meant to help students understand the making and breaking of computer systems. These include math, basic programming, Windows and Unix operating systems, and the science behind networks and wireless technologies. Then students move on to the fundamentals of hacking: target research, signal analysis, network defense, and malware. They learn to hack a simulated network with open source software and tools such as Metasploit. The curriculum is adjusted to keep pace with advances in both offensive and defensive tactics, an unusual challenge for the military, says Maureen Fox, CID’s commanding officer. “Missile technology changes, but it doesn’t change in a day or an hour,” she says. “The technology in the area we’re in does.”

BusinessWeek in a story on US Navy’s Corry Station base in Pensacola, FL

 

Humvee 2.0

“Earlier this year, the US Army announced the three finalists for a massive contract to replace the iconic Humvee, which has been in service for almost three decades.

Oshkosh Corporation, defense contractor Lockheed Martin, and Humvee-maker AM General each delivered 22 prototypes to military evaluators, who are running elaborate tests on the vehicles to determine the best fit. “

“It was deployed to the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan, where US commanders quickly discovered that it was dangerously under equipped to protect troops against close-combat urban fire and improvised explosive devices.

With this problem in mind, the vehicles in this summer's competition are all far more resistant to explosive blasts. The new vehicles are smaller, so they can be more easily airlifted and transported. They're also light and better equipped to deal with the urban and off-road patrol duties that the humvee took on in Afghanistan and Iraq. “

Business Insider

Fields of Dreams

Kansas City-based architecture firm Populous is helping baseball maintain its cultural relevance. After the new Braves stadium opens in 2017, Populous will have designed 20 of the 30 active MLB stadiums, while being heavily involved in the renovation of five others. Starting with the construction of Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 1992, the company revolutionized not just how stadiums are built—with closer seating and architecture unique to the characteristics of the ballpark’s home city—but how the game is marketed to fans. No longer would going to the ballpark be just about baseball: now fans could expect there to be games for kids to play, bars where young adults can congregate, and a slew of other entertainment options in the stadium’s immediate vicinity.

Fortune

 

 

LGA gets a facelift

VP Joe Biden said last year "If I took you and blindfolded you and took you to LaGuardia Airport in New York, you'd think, ‘I must be in some third-world country,’"

So, nice to see plans to renovate the gateway to New York city for domestic travelers.

From The New York Times 

“The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport in northern Queens, estimates the overhaul will cost about $4 billion, most of which will go toward tearing down the Central Terminal Building, rebuilding it in place and augmenting it with a grand entry way.”

Lot more of the vision below

 

 

Digital Gutenberg

It’s been a short five years since I wrote The New Polymath. It is impressive how digital the construction of each successive book has become. Earlier this year I had posted about the Kindle publishing process, print on demand technologies and the contribution of the design agency around SAP Nation.

With SAP Nation 2.0, the digitization has increased

Majority of interviews around the world have been done using Vonage or Skype on a Zoom recorder and stored on Google Drive for later transcription.

The interactions with the editor and graphic designer, both in the Northeast have been via email.

The proofreader comments and my acceptance/rejection and my own additions have used Adobe Acrobat features

I have polled my Facebook friends for advice on thorny grammatical style issues. Amazing how quickly they have responded

My interactions with the design agency, 1106 have used a collaboration tool, Wrike.

The irony – most of my books still sell in paper format

McKinsey’s “Disruptive Dozen”

No Ordinary Disruption: The Four Global Forces Breaking All the Trends, was written by McKinsey directors Richard Dobbs, James Manyika, and Jonathan Woetzel, and offers insight into which developments will have the greatest impact on the business world in coming decades. Below, we’re recapping their list of the “Disruptive Dozen”—the technologies the group believes have the greatest potential to remake today’s business landscape.

• Energy Storage
• Genomics
• Advanced Materials
• Autonomous Vehicles
• Renewable energy
• Advanced Robotics
• 3D printing
• Mobile internet
• Automation of knowledge work
• Internet of things
• Cloud technology
• Advanced oil and gas recovery

Fortune

Microsoft open sources WorldWide Telescope

WorldWide Telescope was designed with rich interactivity in mind. Guided Tours, which are especially popular among educators and astronomy enthusiasts, offer scripted paths through the 3D environment, enabling users to view and create media-rich interactive stories about anything from star formation to the discovery of the large-scale structure of the universe.

Microsoft Research (hat tip to Louis Columbus for the story)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWLC2_w0xeU

Smart Luggage

A fully-collapsible carry-on with built-in tray, proximity sensor, USB outlet, ergonomic swivel handle and more

See campaign at KickStarter

 

A new retail business model

Jet's consumer proposition is as simple as its algorithms are complex: Spend $50 a year for a membership and you get the Web's lowest prices on 10 million-plus goods.

Here's how Jet works. As you add items to your basket, a discount tally starts accruing. The more you add, the bigger the discount, aided by specific choices such as opting out of a product return (a cost that Lore says is built into most shipped goods) and non-credit card payments (debit cards and linked checking accounts cut your final bill).

Lore's real-time trading reference speaks to the system's ability to adjust your discount based in part on where suppliers are. The closer the supplier, the lower the price. It gets Lore thinking about a bottle of ketchup.

USA Today