Human Rights Watch Warns of Killer Robots

Written by Michael Awada on . Posted in Gadgets, Social Media, Technology

human-rights-watch-warns-of-robot-uprising

James Cameron’s Terminator

Robot Uprising? Completely autonomous military vehicles are dangerously close to becoming a reality.

The U.S. Military’s X47B is designed to refuel itself and land by itself on an aircraft carrier. What comes next is the problem.

A fifty page joint report by the Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic warns that the next step is for these unmanned machines to be able to make life and death decisions, firing on particular targets deemed to be threats, without the need for a human go-ahead.

New “Xbox 720″ Details and Images Leaked

Written by Michael Awada on . Posted in Gadgets, Social Media, Technology

new-xbox

Via CVG

New Xbox to include Kinect 2.0, Augmented Reality, 3D Sound, Blu-Ray and HD Touch Screen Controllers. Release expected by late 2013.

We’re days away from the seven year anniversary of the launch of the phenomenally successful Xbox 360 and Xbox World Magazine has unleashed some incredible information about Microsoft’s new Xbox console, nicknamed Durango during development, and widely referred to as Xbox 720.

It’s been a while since a new console has been released, and Microsoft is aiming to make up for lost time. The console is rumored to just be called the “Xbox”, and feature a plethora of mouth-watering perks.

Music Top 11: Pajama Party Piano Jams

Written by Steve Coulter on . Posted in Music, Social Media

piano-song-variety-2012

Whether you’re snuggled up with a mug of hot cider on a blizzarding evening, or dancing around the living room in your underwear, these tunes are some of the best late night listens of all time. And again, there’s a little something for everyone here featuring the most timeless, versatile instrument of all time: the piano. We’ll start off with a bang and then mellow out with some slowjams.

The Tim Tebow You Don’t Know

Written by Michael Awada on . Posted in Social Media, Sports

Tim TebowPeople in all walks of life think Tim Tebow is destined for NFL failure. Experts claim that Tebow cannot operate a pro-style offense. They believe offenses need to be run-heavy and dumbed down for Tim to be able to survive.

Before you rush to judge Tim Tebow, you should at least take the time to learn the facts about the man they call Timmy.

Near-Instant Universal Translator Taking Shape

Written by Michael Awada on . Posted in Business, Gadgets, Social Media, Technology

instant-voice-translation

Via UWR.org

How close are we to breaking down global language barriers? Microsoft researchers demonstrate that we’re closer than anyone could’ve imagined.

For the last 60 years, computer scientists have been working tirelessly to build systems that can genuinely understand what a person says when they talk. The most primitive of techniques involved simple pattern matching, which was flawed by the fact that various people said the same things differently, and even one particular individual could enunciate or speak the same phrase in a multitude of ways.

We saw modest improvements over the years, but nothing truly significant until two years ago, when Microsoft engineers working with the University of Toronto implemented a technique called Deep Neural Networks that more dramatically mimicked the speech recognition and translation process the human brain goes through.

UrtheCast: Live 24/7 Streaming HD Video of Earth From Space

Written by Michael Awada on . Posted in Social Media, Technology

live-video-of-earth

The first ever live, HD video of the Earth from space, coming in 2013.

Canadian startup UrtheCast (pronounced EarthCast) intends to fly two separate HD cameras into orbit and build them onto the Russian module of the International Space Station. Here the cameras will rest, nearly 220 miles above the Earth’s surface, and transmit (nearly) live images and video footage for the world to enjoy.