Category Archives: Technology

PHOENIX Saying the technology is unproven and potentially dangerous, state senators voted Thursday to block any state or local law that would restrict gun sales to "smart'' firearms.

The proposal, HB 2216, also would preclude any mandatory tracking technology on guns, such as GPS to locate firearms, and guns that can send out an electronic message when fired.

But most of the debate Thursday was about development of guns that "know" who is supposed to be able to fire them and who is not. HB 2216 says what's offered for sale in Arizona can't be limited to those guns.

That stance bothered Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson.

"This technology holds the promise of potentially particularly with fingerprint recognition before it's able to be triggered of stopping the horrible tragedy of children finding a gun, playing with it, and then killing themselves or others,'' he said. Farley said it also could stop a teen who is depressed from taking his or her own life.

Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said the flaw in those arguments is that the technology is not yet perfected. Someone who is rightly entitled to use the gun may find it does not work when needed, he said.

The legislation would not preclude Arizonans from buying such a gun. "It simply prevents any government entity from mandating that's the only type of weapon you can buy,'' Kavanagh said.

Farley countered, in essence, that guns without this technology are essentially defective products because of how dangerous they are. That should make the sale of anything other than smart guns illegal, he said.

"You can't buy certain car seats that have proven defective,'' Farley said, adding that the Consumer Product Safety Commission bans the sale of items that cause death and injury. "Sometimes, when there's the possibility of saving innocent lives, you have to mandate something in order to make it happen.''

Several companies are looking at the technology, designed to ensure that only those authorized to use a gun can get it to fire.

One example involves a sort of radio-frequency fob or ring. The gun will only work in the proximity of that device. Another is similar to existing technology that allows a computer user to sign in and unlock the device with a fingerprint.

Kavanagh argued none of that is ready for prime time. "The finger might be dirty,'' he said. "When the person needs the gun for self-defense it won't work.''

There are situations where the gun owner has been incapacitated, he added. "You might want a friend or a relative nearby to be able to use the weapon. They would not be able to use it if they were not part of the system.''

But Farley said the federal government mandated installation of seat belts in vehicles in the 1960s, long before they were as effective as they are now. "And it saved lives even before it was perfected.''

Sen. Martin Quezada, D-Glendale, told colleagues they don't need to look far for situations where smart-gun technology would have saved a life. Last week in Phoenix, a 9-year-old was killed by his 2-year-old brother. The younger boy found a gun that parents had left "laying around'' the house, Quezada said.

HB 2216 won preliminary Senate approval Thursday and now needs a final roll-call vote. The House has given preliminary approval to similar language.

Read the rest here:

State senators say 'smart' gun technology unproven, potentially dangerous - Arizona Daily Star

Bill Kochevar didn't feed himself for more than eight years, nor did he scratch his nose. He couldn't. A bicycle accident in 2006 left him nearly completely paralyzed from the shoulders down.

Now, as outlined in research published Tuesday in The Lancet, Kochevar regained usage of his right hand with the help of an experimental technology called a neuroprosthetic. It essentially created a new connection between the brain and limb to replace the one that was broken.

For the first time in eight years, the 56-year-old Cleveland resident moved his arm simply by thinking about it. He drank a cup of coffee, munched on a pretzel and fed himself mashed potatoes.

"It was amazing," Kochevar said in a video published by Case Western Reserve University. "I thought about moving my arm, and it did. I could move it in and out, up and down."

"We have been able to take the electrical signals which represent his thoughts and use that to control stimulation of his arm and hand," said the study's lead author Abidemi Bolu Ajiboye, assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University.

Though Kochevar was the first to benefit from such technology, Bolu Ajiboye said he believes it could be accessible to the general public in five to 10 years.

Kochevar was on a 150-mile bicycle ride one rainy day in 2006, when he crashed into the back of a mail truck that had stopped to deliver a package. He was left paralyzed from the shoulders down. Upon learning of the research in 2014, he volunteered to take part.

"Somebody has to do research," he said. "If nobody does research, things don't get done."

The inherent problem was that signals from Kochevar's brain were not reaching the rest of his body due this spinal cord injury.

The procedure to create an entirely new connection between his brain and arm took place in two distinct phases.

First, researchers implanted an electrode array, used to detect and record brain signals, into the motor cortex of his brain, the area responsible for arm and hand control.

The sciences hooked the array up to a computer interface displaying a virtual arm. Responding to Kochevar's neural signals, the virtual arm would move about the computer screen, approximating a real limb.

At first, Kochevar simply attempted to control the on-screen arm with his mind, as if it were his own.

"We have an algorithm that sort of transforms those neural signals into the movements he intended to make," Robert Kirsch, a professor of biomedical engineering at Case Western, told NPR.

"He was able to do it within a few minutes," Kirsch said in a statement. "The code was still in his brain."

After four months of training, he became adept at controlling the on-screen arm.

"It went very well very quickly," Kochevar told Time. "I learned how to do it right away and got better and better."

Researchers also implanted a network of 36 muscle-stimulating electrodes into his right arm and hand. These send electrical pulses into the muscles, which cause contractions and allow them to move, similar to how a pacemaker prompts the heart to beat at a natural rhythm.

Next, the electrodes in Kochevar's brain were attached to those in his muscles via a computer interface. The interface decoded his brain's neural signals into the electrical pulses required to move his arm.

Instead of attempting to control a virtual arm, he attempted to control his own.

At first, researchers would move his arm and ask him to imagine he was doing it, as the computer interface recorded his resulting neural signals.

Soon, though, he could move his arm by thought alone. He does still require a mobile arm support - a sling of sorts - to hold his atrophied arm against gravity, but he controls that, too, with his brain.

Suddenly, he could feed himself, raise a straw to his lips and scratch his nose - actions he hadn't been able to perform for eight years.

The technology is far from perfected. There is a slight delay between him willing his arm to perform an action and the action taking place, but it is minuscule.

"The computer samples brain activity 30,000 times a second and the muscle reacts within 20 milliseconds," Bolu Abijoye told Time. "The literature suggests that it's when the delay gets to 300 milliseconds that it's really noticeable."

Kochevar also can't actually feel what he's doing. Although he can still perform the actions with his eyes closed, he can't identify what is in his hand by touch.

Still, he seemed pleased.

"This won't replace caregivers," he said. "But, in the long term, people will be able, in a limited way, to do more for themselves."

Added Kochevar, "For somebody who's been injured eight years and couldn't move, being able to move just that little bit is awesome to me. It's better than I thought it would be."

Originally posted here:

New technology allows paralyzed man to move arm by thinking about it - Chicago Tribune

Dive Brief:

Government agencies have a modernization problem. The federal IT budget is $80 billion, yet the government has to spend 75% of the funds just on operations and maintenance of legacy systems, according to report from the Government Accountability Office.

The problem becomes systemic in the government. Though an agency might want to bring in newer cloud-based technologies, CIOs and other IT leaders often find the network cannot support an increased load without an upgrade. Then, even if the agency is ready for new technology, the procurement process can drag on for months and sometimes even years.

That's one of the reasons why Hurd and Hoyer have championed the MGT, calling for a more efficient way to bring technology into the government and allowing agencies to innovate so they can better provider goods and services to citizens.

Though it passed in the House, the MGT stalled in the Senate because of an assessment by the Congressional Budget Office, which estimated the proposed legislation would cost $9 billion to implement. The bill, however was intended to be a cost-saving measure for the federal government, allowing agency technological transformation and help reduce cost of simply maintaining systems.

Hurd and Hoyer are not alone in their transformation efforts. The White House is also working to make government more focused on innovation. In a presidential memorandum, earlier this week President Donald Trump established the White House Office of American Innovation, to be headed by Jared Kushner, a senior advisor to the president and Trump's son-in-law.

The office will "bring together the best ideas from government, the private sector and other thought leaders" to help the U.S. solve "today's most intractable problems," according to the memorandum.The goals is for the office to implement tested private sector models to help spur government innovation and job creation. This means that Kushner, in an effort to help modernize government, will have to tackle the archeological layer of legacy technology that persists across agencies.

Top image credit: Naomi Eide

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Why Reps. Hurd, Hoyer are focused on government technology transformation - CIO Dive

Shipping-Technology Startup Freightos Raises $25 Million Wall Street Journal (subscription) Shipping-technology startup Freightos raised $25 million in a funding round led by General Electric Co.'s GE Ventures, the freight company said Wednesday. The Series B round brings the Israel-based company's total funding to $50 millionone of the ... and more »

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Shipping-Technology Startup Freightos Raises $25 Million - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Dear Editor,

The Committee to Review, Evaluate and Aid Technology in Education (CREATE) Technology Fair was held Tuesday, March 14, to showcase students use of technology in the Batesville area schools. Over 250 students from Batesville High School, Batesville Middle School, Batesville Intermediate School, Batesville Primary School, St. Louis School and Oldenburg Academy participated in the evenings activities.

The CREATE Technology Fair Committee would like to thank all the supporters who helped to make the evening a successful and enjoyable experience for all. The CREATE Foundation has assisted the Batesville area schools with technology since 1994. A special thank you to the CREATE Foundation and the John A. Hillenbrand Foundation for providing the opportunity to showcase students' technology projects.

Thanks also to the following for their support and generosity: Batesville Tool & Die, Peter Paul Office Equipment, Indiana Virtual Academy, Genesis Pathways to Success/Ripley County Community Foundation, Enhanced Telecommunications Corp., Batesville Community Education Foundation, Educational Furniture and Max Cases.

The educators of the Batesville area schools truly appreciate the support of technology in the classrooms.

Jackie Huber

CREATE Technology Fair Committee

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Fair showcased technology - Batesville Herald Tribune

March 29, 2017 by Lisa Craig This robotic arm is programmed to apply cold spray technology to repair surfaces of corroded aircraft parts. Credit: University of Akron

Faster, market competitive and safer airplane repairs. That's the goal of a project by The University of Akron and Airborne Maintenance and Engineering Services in obtaining Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval for "cold spray" repair of corroded and worn parts on commercial aircraft.

Promising demonstrations and test results of this application were showcased at Airborne Maintenance and Engineering Services at the Wilmington Air Park on March 27. Members of the Ohio General Assembly including Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives Cliff Rosenberger and Ohio Senate President Pro Tempore Bob Peterson viewed progress of Supersonic Particle Deposition (SPD), a groundbreaking aircraft repair method for applying metal particles to rebuild the surfaces of corroded and worn parts.

Boost to economy expected

By extending the useful life of an aircraft's parts, this public-private partnership initiative is anticipated to lead to the first FAA certification for full-scale commercial aircraft repair operations. For a region that is actively expanding the job market by developing emerging technology to grow the aviation sector, this approval is another step forward in additional jobs and economic development opportunities.

The technique involves a high pressure spraying process in which metal particles contained in a supersonic jet of an expanded gas impact a solid surface with sufficient energy to cause bonding with the surface. This additive manufacturing process builds up and repairs the surface of the metal part without creating a heat-affected zone that would occur during welding or high temperature thermal spray.

Development and testing has been underway for two years, funded by the Ohio Legislature in the last Operating Budget, and supported by The University of Akron's National Center for Education and Research on Corrosion and Materials Performance (NCERCAMP) in collaboration with Airborne Maintenance and Engineering Services (AMES), SAFEngineering, Inc., and U.S. Technology Corporation. The data gathered has provided the foundation with the information required for FAA approval of SPD dimensional restoration of aircraft structure.

Significant opportunities for growth

This collective effort has produced numerous achievements with the SPD technology highlighting the effectiveness of public-private partnerships for economic growth. Once the goal of this program is attained, the application of the process is limitless across the commercial aviation sector.

"This technology in commercial applications creates significant ongoing opportunities for economic advancement in Ohio through advanced manufacturing and job growth," said Greg Smith, director of engineering for Airborne Maintenance and Engineering Services.

UA's Corrosion Engineering program is the first of its kind in the United States. Housed at The University of Akron, NCERCAMP provides a multidisciplinary approach to help government and industry develop solutions for corrosion and materials performance challenges. In response to requests from private industry and the Department of Defense in 2006, The University of Akron launched an effort to help address the cost of corrosion on the nation's economy, estimated at more than $400 billion annually. In 2010, NCERCAMP was established by Congress and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Explore further: Decreasing the mass of aircraft with polymer composites

Members of the Department of Chemistry of Lomonosov Moscow State University have created unique polymer matrices for polymer composites based on novel phthalonitrile monomers. The materials are stronger than metals, which ...

Lufthansa and General Electric will jointly invest some 250 million euros ($270 million) in Poland to build a plant that will service aircraft engines starting in 2018, authorities said Monday.

A potential "fountain of youth" for metal, General Electric researchers announced the use of a process called "cold spray," in which metal powders are sprayed at high velocities to build a part or add material to repair an ...

Carnegie Mellon University Professor Anthony D. Rollett has developed a new computational method that may help track the lifespan of U.S. Navy aircraft.

Online giant Amazon told Congress on Tuesday the US government is lagging in implementing rules for commercial drones, making it hard to make plans for its quick delivery system by air.

Leaders with the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership at Virginia Tech have outlined a research plan to study how reporters could use unmanned aircraft to gather news.

Most people look for a place to hide when a typhoon is on the horizon, but Atsushi Shimizu hopes that the fury of nature may one day help resource-poor Japan tackle its energy woes.

US lawmakers voted Tuesday to roll back rules that would block internet service providers from selling user data to third parties, following a heated debate over privacy protections.

A typical office scanner can be infiltrated and a company's network compromised using different light sources, according to a new paper by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Weizmann Institute of ...

Not content to reach for Mars and dethrone fossil fuels, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk on Tuesday is turning his focus to delving into people's minds.

A crash that caused an Uber self-driving SUV to flip onto its side in a Phoenix suburb serves as a stark reminder of the challenges surrounding autonomous vehicles in Arizona, a state that has gone all-in to entice the company ...

As Africa gears up for a tripling of electricity demand by 2030, a new Berkeley study maps out a viable strategy for developing wind and solar power while simultaneously reducing the continent's reliance on fossil fuels and ...

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Cold spray technology to repair surfaces of corroded aircraft parts - Phys.Org

TechCrunch

Technology is killing jobs, and only technology can save them TechCrunch In the recent presidential election, automation and robotics got a slight reprieve from the accusations that it has been the key driver in job losses in the United States. During the campaign, the conversation shifted, thanks largely to then-candidate ... and more »

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Technology is killing jobs, and only technology can save them - TechCrunch

Forbes

5 People Who Are Pushing Technology That You Will Want To Work With Now Forbes Here are some incredibly smart people that are pushing boundaries and/or doing some incredibly inventive things in emerging technology and other areas. Whether it's healthcare, news or immersive technologies - these are the people you'll be hearing a ...

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5 People Who Are Pushing Technology That You Will Want To Work With Now - Forbes

As Washington fiddles, China is investing billions in U.S. startups with cutting-edge products that could have military applications at the same time it is dialing back investments in less critical American industries such as entertainment.

A New York Times story this week says that among the startups are companies working on artificial intelligence for military robots, rocket engines, ship sensors and printers that could produce high-tech components such as computer screens for military jets. Many of the firms making such investments are owned by companies controlled by the Chinese government or connected to its leaders.

A blog post last December on the website of CB Insights, which tracks startup investments, says that China poured $9.9 billion into new Silicon Valley firms in 2015 and made an additional $3.5 billion in tech investments in the first nine months of last year. The number and size of those tech investments in startups developing military applications were not broken out.

Related: Pentagon Scientists Worry the US Is Losing the Artificial Intelligence Arms Race

The Times story says a Defense Department white paper being circulated among Trump administration officials makes the case that "Beijing is encouraging Chinese companies with close government ties to invest in American start-ups specializing in critical technologies like artificial intelligence and robots to advance China's military capacity as well as its economy." A call to the Defense Department for comment was referred to a public affairs officer who was not immediately available.

Last year, China spent $225 billion investing in or buying out overseas companies, although there is evidence that the leadership in Beijing is exerting pressure to both rein in outflows of capital and ensure that when investments are made, they are in strategic industries.

Trump's Next Challenge: Russia Returns to Afghanistan

For example, one casualty of more controlled investment may have been the $1 billion deal by Dalian Wanda Group to buy Dick Clark Productions, which produces a popular New Year's Eve countdown show and the Golden Globe Awards ceremony, among other entertainment properties.

Eldridge Industries, which owns Dick Clark Productions, moved to terminate the deal earlier this month after contending that Wanda, which has been aggressively pursuing investments in Hollywood, was unwilling to meet its obligations. Earlier this week, the New York Post reported that a $1 billion financing deal between Viacom's Paramount Pictures and two Chinese companies, Shanghai Film Group and Hua Hua Media, is in jeopardy.

What is driving the Chinese interest in U.S. startups focused on AI and robotics with military applications seems to be a recognition that the parameters of war and defense are rapidly evolving.

A report prepared last October for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Committee, which monitors the national security implications of trade and deals with China, said that "Chinese military leaders and strategists believe that the nature of warfare is fundamentally changing due to unmanned platforms" and pointed to a growing military drone industry and efforts to acquire artificial intelligence capabilities either by investment or possibly "cyber espionage."

Related: Game of Drones: The Air Force Ramps Up Video Game Warfare

The study conducted by the intelligence research and analysis firm Defense Group Inc. said: "Chinese strategists consider the U.S. military to be increasingly dependent upon unmanned systems, making countermeasures against these weapons a necessity."

Besides attempting to acquire military technology illegally or through means that are not clearly regulated, DGI said "state-owned conglomerates, companies, and venture capital firms are actively acquiring and investing in AI and foreign robotics technologies companies, particularly in Europe."

The report recommended that Washington "monitor and when necessary investigate China's growing foreign investments in robotics and AI companies and consider the security implications of transactions and acquisitions involving emerging technologies such as AI and nanorobotics."

Investigating Chinese investments, however, may not address the root problem. Some startups told the Times that they turned to Chinese investors because they were more willing to take risks and because the American military has been reluctant to take a chance on unproven technology even when the capital required is relatively insignificant.

Excerpt from:

China finds a new source of cutting-edge military technology: US startups - CNBC

So what are the sell side analysts saying now? Barron's excellent columnist, Tiernan Ray, would do well to get Bernstein's Mark Newman in a room with Credit Suisse's John Pitzer and listen to them chat about Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU). These are the two sell side analysts I respect the most, and they have widely divergent views on Micron after the company's blowout quarterly earnings, and ultra super duper maximum deluxe robust (technical term) third quarter guidance, delivered on the March 23 earnings call. The tables below demonstrate how divergent Wall Street's view of Micron has become.

Here are the first five firms I've reviewed, on EPS estimates and price targets:

These are all from reports generated after the March 23 earnings call. Blank cells mean no data was presented.

And here's our quintet on revenue estimates, in billions of dollars:

Huh! Well at least they all agree on the third quarter of 2017. Wait! that's smack in the middle of the guided range of $5.2 to $5.6 billion!

Here's some representative language from the reports. First John Pitzer and team at Credit Suisse:

We continue to see fundamentals for MU improving from here - specifically (1) we expect the pricing environment to remain healthy through 2H17 and drive margin improvement for MU; (2) structurally, Memory is a different industry now - higher concentration than ever (HHI 3,300 now versus only 1,900 in 2007), more diversified demand, and slowing supply - we argue margins are more resilient now than in the past, and expect a re-rating as investors realize normalized earnings of >$2 per year; and (3) we continue to argue that strategic value continues to be underappreciated, particularly given China's interest is Memory. Our TP of $40 represents ~8x of our NTM EPS of $5.34 (w/ SBC).

And here is Bernstein's Mark Newman:

The New Memory Paradigm is back, but how much upside is left? We expect this strong pricing to continue in DRAM through the end of CY17 as supply growth in DRAM remains relatively muted this year. We worry more about NAND oversupply later this CY17 due to Samsung's aggressive supply additions and potential oversupply and price weakness later this year.

Taxes. There seems to be some confusion here on SA, and even on the sell side, about Micron's low tax rate and how long it will continue. For a while. Remember Micron's shareholder unfriendly poison pill to protect their Net Operating Loss Carryforwards?

Here are the NOLs from page 85 of the most recent 10k:

And just for fun, here is the same table from the previous year's 10k so you can see that NOLs are growing, not shrinking:

But beyond all these NOLs, Micron operates in a variety of jurisdictions where they don't get levied the full US statutory rate. As a sanity check I looked at Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) over time, and they have a much larger US footprint as a percentage of their total than does Micron:

Source: Bernstein reports 11/4/14, 3/30/15, 3/21/16, and 2/10/17

Those average to 22.8%, far below the maximum US statutory corporate rate.

Finally, and please don't make me dredge up the explanations and examples from business school, GAAP taxes as shown above are not the same as cash taxes. There are plenty of things to worry about with Micron, but current taxes are not one of them.

Free Cash Flow. Also in the confused category is Free Cash Flow. This has been a legitimate worry with Micron over the past year or so. But now, as this table from John Pitzer at Credit Suisse shows, Micron has become something of a Free Cash Flow generation machine:

Note the second to last line of the table: $4.9 Billion in FCF in 2017 and $5.3 Billion in 2018.

Don't believe Credit Suisse (or want it in a type size you can see)? How about the gang at Citicorp:

Also note what this does for cash balances in Citi's estimation, with a static LTDebt amount of $11.3 billion over the same period:

So at least these two analysts don't feel cash flow is an issue.

I am interested and a bit nervous as to what Micron may do with regard to bidding on Toshiba's (OTCPK:TOSBF) memory assets, and bids are due this week. Bloomberg feels bids may be in the neighborhood of $13 billion. My hope is that Micron joins a consortium bid which I imagine might include Silverlake, their portfolio companies Dell & EMC, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). While I hope Micron won't do a solo bid, they will surely have to ante up in any consortium. And while I don't want dilution, this could be a worthy and ultimately anti-dilutive extremely accretive rollup of more of the memory industry. In a correctly structured and priced consortium bid, I would support Micron making an equity offering of 10% of its shares.

Conclusions. Reviewing what the sell side is saying, or more particularly reviewing how what they are saying has changed, is a key step in beginning to formulate my own earnings estimate. Clearly Mark Newman of Bernstein feels we are late in the cycle and the downturn is around the corner. John Pitzer of Credit Suisse seems to think this cycle has a ways to go. I suspect my own estimate, which I've begun working on, will come out somewhere between the two but trending towards the high side based on the many pages of updates I've read.

I'm a bit surprised that Micron's stock price didn't react more favorably to this incredible earnings call. On the other hand, the aftermarket on Thursday saw 12 million shares traded, the pre-market on Friday saw another 6 million, and Friday's regular session saw 107 million. We are getting some new shareholders for this trip into the wild blue yonder. Buckle up for the trip! Good luck to all.

Disclosure: I am/we are long MU, INTC.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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Micron Technology: Analyst Upgrades - Seeking Alpha