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Korea Ups Its Robots Game
October 25, 2014
In 1976 an animated film called Robot Taekwon V captured Korean kids’ imaginations with its tale of a superhero robot fending off giant machines bent on world domination. The film’s appeal endures—as does the cultural fascination with automated machines. South Korean President Park Geun Hye’s industrial planners have global ambitions of their own: to blow by Europe, Japan, and the U.S. in the race to hold sway over advanced robotics. South Korea is embracing robotics with the same intensity...
October 25, 2014
In 1976 an animated film called Robot Taekwon V captured Korean kids’ imaginations with its tale of a superhero robot fending off giant machines bent on world domination. The film’s appeal endures—as does the cultural fascination with automated machines. South Korean President Park Geun Hye’s industrial planners have global ambitions of their own: to blow by Europe, Japan, and the U.S. in the race to hold sway over advanced robotics. South Korea is embracing robotics with the same intensity...
Unexpected Bedfellows: Nolo and Martindale
October 24, 2014
The terrain seems to be changing faster than an infant changes shoe sizes. New companies sprout up, and in some cases, geriatric organizations get new homes. In 2011, Nolo became a wholly owned subsidiary of Internet Brands, based in El Segundo, Calif. At the time, it seemed an odd acquisition for the company, launched in 1998 from incubator Idealab. It began as CarsDirect.com, and now serves automotive, health, home and travel, legal, and diversified media fields. (In June, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts...
October 24, 2014
The terrain seems to be changing faster than an infant changes shoe sizes. New companies sprout up, and in some cases, geriatric organizations get new homes. In 2011, Nolo became a wholly owned subsidiary of Internet Brands, based in El Segundo, Calif. At the time, it seemed an odd acquisition for the company, launched in 1998 from incubator Idealab. It began as CarsDirect.com, and now serves automotive, health, home and travel, legal, and diversified media fields. (In June, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts...
Google Trial Lets You Chat With Doctors When You Search for Symptoms
October 24, 2014
Searching the web for symptoms of illness can be dangerous -- you could identify a real condition, but you also risk scaring yourself for no reason through a misdiagnosis. Google might have a solution that puts your mind at ease, though. The company has confirmed to Engadget that it's testing a Helpouts-style feature which offers video chats with doctors when you search for symptoms. While there aren't many details of how this works in practice, the search card mentions that Google is covering the costs...
October 24, 2014
Searching the web for symptoms of illness can be dangerous -- you could identify a real condition, but you also risk scaring yourself for no reason through a misdiagnosis. Google might have a solution that puts your mind at ease, though. The company has confirmed to Engadget that it's testing a Helpouts-style feature which offers video chats with doctors when you search for symptoms. While there aren't many details of how this works in practice, the search card mentions that Google is covering the costs...
Gartner’s Crystal Ball Foresees an Emerging ‘Super Class’ of Technologies
October 22, 2014
Gartner sees things like robots and drones replacing a third of all workers by 2025, and whether you want to believe it or not, is entirely your business. Smart machines are an emerging "super class" of technologies that perform a wide variety of work, both the physical and the intellectual kind, said Sondergaard. Machines, for instance, have been grading multiple choice for years, but now they are grading essays and unstructured text. This cognitive capability in software will extend to other...
October 22, 2014
Gartner sees things like robots and drones replacing a third of all workers by 2025, and whether you want to believe it or not, is entirely your business. Smart machines are an emerging "super class" of technologies that perform a wide variety of work, both the physical and the intellectual kind, said Sondergaard. Machines, for instance, have been grading multiple choice for years, but now they are grading essays and unstructured text. This cognitive capability in software will extend to other...
10 Predictions About How IBM’s Watson Will Impact the Legal Profession
October 21, 2014
As part of its thoughtful launch to deliver Watson’s cognitive computing capabilities through services, IBM has begun to partner with different companies in different fields, including law. (Full disclosure—Legal OnRamp is working with IBM on Watson with help from Dan.) This is an interesting go-to-market approach for IBM, to create an ecosystem around a nascent technology, with analogues to Google search or Apple’s iTunes (or for the true aficionados, to Salesforce’s Appforce). Many imagine...
October 21, 2014
As part of its thoughtful launch to deliver Watson’s cognitive computing capabilities through services, IBM has begun to partner with different companies in different fields, including law. (Full disclosure—Legal OnRamp is working with IBM on Watson with help from Dan.) This is an interesting go-to-market approach for IBM, to create an ecosystem around a nascent technology, with analogues to Google search or Apple’s iTunes (or for the true aficionados, to Salesforce’s Appforce). Many imagine...
FAA Gives Drone Exemption to Hollywood Production Firms
October 19, 2014
Hollywood will soon have a new angle on capturing aerial footage. The Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday that it has approved exemptions that would allow filmmakers to use "unmanned aircraft systems," otherwise known as drones. The FAA responded to a request for a waiver filed earlier this year by six aerial photo and video production companies seeking permission to use drones for the first time. The decision is the first step to allowing the film and television industry to use drones,...
October 19, 2014
Hollywood will soon have a new angle on capturing aerial footage. The Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday that it has approved exemptions that would allow filmmakers to use "unmanned aircraft systems," otherwise known as drones. The FAA responded to a request for a waiver filed earlier this year by six aerial photo and video production companies seeking permission to use drones for the first time. The decision is the first step to allowing the film and television industry to use drones,...
Lyft Is the Official Ride of MLB.com
October 19, 2014
Baseball and Lyft go together like peanuts and Cracker Jack. Every Major League Baseball game brings fans together from near and far to build an ever-growing community of friends rooting for the home team. This shared commitment to connecting people is why we’re so excited to announce that starting today, Lyft is the official rideshare partner of MLB.com. More than 74 million baseball fans now have a reliable option to leave their cars at home, make safe driving choices, reduce congestion and share...
October 19, 2014
Baseball and Lyft go together like peanuts and Cracker Jack. Every Major League Baseball game brings fans together from near and far to build an ever-growing community of friends rooting for the home team. This shared commitment to connecting people is why we’re so excited to announce that starting today, Lyft is the official rideshare partner of MLB.com. More than 74 million baseball fans now have a reliable option to leave their cars at home, make safe driving choices, reduce congestion and share...
18+ States Rely on “Stingrays” (Fake Cell Towers) for Surveillance – Is this an Evasion of Privacy?
October 18, 2014
Privacy issues have been highlighted by a recent Newsweek report that “mysterious devices sprinkled across America—many of them on military bases—that connect to your phone by mimicking cell phone towers and sucking up your data“ and an earlier Florida Today report that “[l]ocal and state police, from Florida to Alaska, are buying Stingrays with federal grants aimed at protecting cities from terror attacks, but using them for far broader police work” led the American Civil Liberties Union...
October 18, 2014
Privacy issues have been highlighted by a recent Newsweek report that “mysterious devices sprinkled across America—many of them on military bases—that connect to your phone by mimicking cell phone towers and sucking up your data“ and an earlier Florida Today report that “[l]ocal and state police, from Florida to Alaska, are buying Stingrays with federal grants aimed at protecting cities from terror attacks, but using them for far broader police work” led the American Civil Liberties Union...
Game Change: The ABA and Self-Help Legal Shops Seek Common Ground
October 18, 2014
The American Bar Association turns to an unexpected player to help consumers get affordable legal services and lawyers get business. Hell...
October 18, 2014
The American Bar Association turns to an unexpected player to help consumers get affordable legal services and lawyers get business. Hell...
MIT Launches Laboratory for Social Machines with Major Twitter Investment
October 18, 2014
The MIT Media Lab today announced the creation of the Laboratory for Social Machines (LSM), funded by a five-year, $10 million commitment from Twitter. As part of the new program, Twitter will also provide full access to its real-time, public stream of tweets, as well as the archive of every tweet dating back to the first. The new initiative, based at the Media Lab, will focus on the development of new technologies to make sense of semantic and social patterns across the broad span of public mass...
October 18, 2014
The MIT Media Lab today announced the creation of the Laboratory for Social Machines (LSM), funded by a five-year, $10 million commitment from Twitter. As part of the new program, Twitter will also provide full access to its real-time, public stream of tweets, as well as the archive of every tweet dating back to the first. The new initiative, based at the Media Lab, will focus on the development of new technologies to make sense of semantic and social patterns across the broad span of public mass...
