Lifeboat Foundation

A bipartisan group of senators has asked the USDA to update the broadband speed definitions of its Community Connect grant program, which, like the FCC’s Universal Service Program, provides subsidies to build out broadband in areas where there isn’t a business case, in this case focused on rural areas.

They want the definition for high speed to be upped to 10 Mbps.

The USDA this month upped the speeds for the Broadband Access Loan Program to 10 mbps, but Community Connect was only increased to 4 Mbps. The senators signaled that did not cut it.

Continue reading “Sens. Ask USDA to Boost Broadband Speed Benchmark” »

Again, we all must ask ourselves “What is it that we all need and want v. being told what we need and want by a 20 something old who gets take out or heats up a tv dinner, etc. And, truly what makes sense from an investment, ROI, and security risk adverse investment approach.” 1st, I like making and having my own choices in how I run my house, and operating style at work and private life. 2nd, I don’t trust our out dated digital infrastructure to warrant a great investment in all things AI.

Until I see AI that assist me instead of trying to work against me or replace me as well as having security; then not bought in 100%.

The U.S. manufacturing sector has changed rapidly in the last decade and continues to change as new techonolgy innovations emerge. Daniel Araya and Christopher Sulavik discuss how schools can react to educate a skilled labor force for this new era of robot technolgies.

Continue reading “Disrupting manufacturing: Innovation and the future of skilled labor” »

Glad to see more folks understanding what I had shared 6 months ago about AI and having entire teams of comprised of the standard SV male. It doesn’t work for AI and will be a barrier in it’s adoption. AI (more than any technology to date) requires a multi-cultural diverse team that reflects the consumers that they are trying to cater to.

Until this one dimensional male dominated engeering teams become more diverse to align with the buying public along with improving the weak under lying connected infrastructure including the net are corrected; AI will not see it’s full potential in the market.

I will ask again, how does a 28 or 33 year male understand how a 48 or 51 year old woman who has been a famers wife feels and her needs; or how does a 28 year old male understands what a 38 or 40 year old female living in the Hamptons needs are for her home, or boutique spa shop geared to other women?.

Continue reading “Pre-programming Artificial Intelligence is a Risky Business” »

The question breaks down into two parts:

1. For what public benefit? —and—
2. No, it cannot be achieved in this way

Governments are in the business of regulating certain activities—hopefully in an effort to serve the public good. In the case of business methods and activities, their goal is to maintain an orderly marketplace; one that is fair, safe and conducive to economic growth.

But regulation that lacks a clear purpose or a reasonable detection and enforcement mechanism is folly. Such regulation risks making government seem arbitrary, punitive or ineffective.

«— This is money. It is not a promissory note, a metaphor, an analogy or an abstract representation of money in some account. It is the money itself. Unlike your national currency, it does not require an underlying asset or redemption guarantee.

Continue reading “Can Bitcoin be defeated by legislation?” »

It seems that the D-Wave Computer does work, and the theory is that the hardware is 3,600 times faster than other supercomputers. It is the nearest we have to quantum computing, and there have been two tests leading to the announcement that it was far more quickly than simulated annealing which is a copy of quantum computation carried out on a standard computer chip.

The Future of Elevators

More Videos by Alex Klokus.

By David Glance Director of UWA Centre for Software Practice, University of Western Australia

Pharmaceutical companies typically develop new drugs with thousands of staff and budgets that run into the billions of dollars. One estimate puts the cost of bringing a new drug to market at $2.6 billion with others suggesting that it could be double that cost at $5 billion.

Continue reading “Garage Biotech: New drugs using only a computer, the internet and free online data” »

For the second time in less than a month, SpaceX has landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on a ship at sea.

The booster settled softly onto the deck of SpaceX’s robotic “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship at 1:30 a.m. EDT (0530 GMT) on Friday (May 6), nine minutes after launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on a successful mission to carry the Japanese communications satellite JCSAT-14 to orbit.

Chants of “USA! USA! USA!” erupted at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California as the Falcon 9 stuck its landing on the ship, which was stationed about 200 miles (320 kilometers) offshore in the Atlantic Ocean. [Photos: SpaceX Launches Satellite, Lands Rocket at Sea].

By forcing computers to do more of the grunt work, the world’s biggest tech companies are accelerating how quickly AI enters the everyday world.