Category Archives: Futurist

The Apple AirPods Pro 2 are the likely next-generation of the companys popular noise-cancelling earbuds and if the rumors are to be believed, theyll be the most advanced true wireless earbuds weve ever seen.

The original AirPods Pro are among the best wireless earbuds you can buy, with immersive Spatial Audio support, active noise cancellation, and fantastic integration with the wider Apple ecosystem.

The next version of these buds are rumored to come with a range of significant upgrades: Weve heard about everything from codewords that can control the active noise cancellation to blood oxygen monitors embedded in the earbuds themselves. But how likely are such futuristic features?

Since the AirPods Pro 2 are expected to launch later this year (according to respected analysts like Ming-Chi Kuo), perhaps the more fanciful ideas are just too futuristic - so lets analyze the intriguing features weve heard about so far.

The most recent rumor circulating about the AirPods Pro 2 is that theyll allow specific codewords and voices to break through their active noise cancellation settings.

Spotted by Apple Insider, a new patent application called Interrupt for noise-cancelling audio devices describes a new feature thats designed to stop you from missing out on important conversations while active noise cancellation is switched on.

As explained in the patent, a user may desire to be interrupted by pre-designation contacts or by a person who speaks a designated keyword to the user.

So, if your partner is shouting your name to say that dinners ready, future AirPods could turn off the active noise cancellation, enter Transparency mode, or turn off your music to allow you to hear them.

To stop any person from interrupting your music, youd be able to pre-approve contacts known to you and your devices and to determine whether youre the one being addressed by these contacts, the AirPods could analyse the volume of their voice and how long it takes for their voice to reach you.

The patent also describes how this could work with codewords as well as voices, so you could train your AirPods to recognize when any person says your name, and turn off your noise cancellation accordingly.

How likely is this to happen? As with any patent, theres no guarantee that the technology described here will actually make an appearance, let alone in a new version of the AirPods Pro thats expected to launch in a few months.

This feature would be useful, and it certainly isnt outside the realms of possibility that your iPhone could identify different voices and switch off your AirPods noise cancellation.

After all, Siri can recognize up to six different voices on the Apple HomePod and HomePod mini, and tailor its responses accordingly.

The technology required to make this feature work is definitely present but whether it would be available at the time of the AirPods Pro 2 launch is another question. Apple has previously updated accessibility features on its AirPods range of products well after their launch dates, and we could see something similar happening here, perhaps to coincide with a new version of iOS.

The rumor that future AirPods will be able to monitor your blood oxygen levels is something weve been hearing about for some time now.

A 2020 leak from LeaksApplePro claimed that the AirPods Pro 2 will specifically come with ambient light sensors, backing up a previous report by DigiTimes that said future AirPods will use ambient light sensors to take biometric measurements potentially for monitoring blood oxygen levels, as seen in the Apple Watch 6.

This could work like the ear-based clip-on pulse oximeters used in hospitals, which shine light through the earlobe to detect the level of oxygen in a patients bloodstream.

This would allow the AirPods Pro 2 to collect fitness data and measure it over time useful, if youre using the earbuds as running headphones and perhaps even monitor conditions that cause shortness of breath and low oxygen levels.

How likely is this to happen? We dont think this one is very likely. The current AirPods Pro dont rest on the earlobe in a way that would work for a blood oximeter, and integrating an actual ear clip would bring a drastic design change to the AirPods Pro. Of all the earbuds that this feature could come to, the Powerbeats Pro are more likely, since they hook around the ear and have more contact with the skin.

Saying that, the technology to do this does exist. In 2019, FreeWavs completed a successful crowdfunding campaign for a pair of fitness earbuds that can measure your blood oxygen levels, as well as other biometric data. However, the product never came to market, with the company citing issues with accurately detecting blood oxygen levels, and even contemplating releasing a version of the earbuds without this feature to appease its backers.

Apple is a much larger company though, and if any brand could make this feature work, its Apple. Weve already seen Apple integrate a pulse oximeter into the Apple Watch 6, which offers the ability to measure blood oxygen levels. As Apple says, measurements taken with the Blood Oxygen app on the Apple Watch 6 are not intended for medical use and are only designed for general fitness and wellness purposes, which makes it ripe for fitness-focused headphones.

Like all of the futuristic AirPods Pro 2 features weve heard about, gesture controls is a rumor borne out of patents awarded to Apple.

The first was a 2020 patent that describes the ability to control a pair of true wireless earbuds with in-air gestures for example, hovering a hand over the AirPods to turn off the noise cancellation or pause your music. This feature would use capacitive sensors to detect the proximity of the user to the AirPods.

More recently, Apple filed a patent for even more out there gestures, describing earbuds that could be controlled by touching your face, shaking your head, and clicking your teeth together. These actions wouldnt even be limited to the users own body, with the ability to control the earbuds by touching another object for instance, tapping a table or squeezing the arm of another person.

How likely is this to happen? Cupping an ear over your earbuds to pause active noise cancellation or your music doesnt seem that far fetched, and we can see Apple implementing this with a next-gen pair of AirPods Pro.

However, we cant see people using the more flamboyant gestures in public, and it would be very difficult for Apple to ensure these gestures are accurately picked up by the earbuds. Weve seen gesture controls implemented in true wireless earbuds such as the TicPods 2 Pro, which allow you to accept calls by nodding your head, and reject them by shaking it. However, we have found that such controls rarely work well, if at all.

Its rare for Apple to take these kinds of risks with its products, preferring to let other companies experiment with new technologies before implementing them itself. Apple products are known for working well and for delivering ease of use, and the company is unlikely to take a gamble on gesture controls if it isnt confident that theyll work every time.

The rumored features that are most likely to come with the AirPods Pro 2 are less headline-grabbing than blood oxygen monitors and codewords, but theyre interesting all the same.

We can expect some improvements to the active noise cancellation technology; the AirPods Pro were released in 2019 and the technology has moved on since then, with models such as the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds offering near-silence with the ANC feature switched on. While Apples noise-cancelling earbuds do block out a good amount of ambient sound (especially if its a constant sound, like a rumbling train), youre still able to hear things like music playing in a shared office.

Were also hoping to see some improvements to the audio performance of the AirPods Pro, and wed love for Apple to include an adjustable EQ so users could tweak the sound to their liking. This would let you dig into the different frequency bands - perhaps boosting the bass when youre exercising to power you through your workout, or increasing the trebles and mids so voices sound clearer on podcasts.

Support for lossless audio and hi-res streaming is a possibility, too, as Becky Roberts, Hi-Fi and Audio Editor for What Hi-Fi? explains: The AirPods 2 will likely be the first Apple headphones to launch since Apple Music went lossless and hi-res, and Apple will no doubt be keen for its headphone hardware and music software to be on the same page for audio quality, as is the case with its spatial audio technology.

Its not as simple as including support for a hi-res audio codec though. The barrier to truly lossless support for headphones like the AirPods that rely solely on Bluetooth connection (i.e cannot be wired) lies in whether Apple can raise the ceiling of Bluetooth transmission quality, or find an alternative method to send high-quality music wirelessly to headphones.

We may be looking at an AirPods model further down the line for that, she says. In any case, its clearly an issue that Apple is looking into. In an interview with What Hi-Fi?, Apple's VP of Acoustics, Gary Geaves said that theres a number of tricks we can play to maximise or get around some of the limits of Bluetooth, but that its fair to say that we would like more bandwidth.

Truly lossless streaming, that doesnt heavily compress audio files and reduce the detail in your music could be made possible with Qualcomms aptX Lossless codec, which can deliver CD-quality streams over Bluetooth, and is expected to start coming to headphones later this year.

Without the need to squeeze all the detail out of your music so that the files can be transmitted wirelessly, this codec should deliver a sound that closely replicates the quality that the musicians and engineers were working with in the studio at the time of recording.

Whether this technology will come to the AirPods Pro 2 remains to be seen - and as Roberts said, we still might not get fully lossless AirPods in 2022.

Its also possible that the AirPods Pro will see a dramatic redesign in 2022, with Apple getting rid of the protruding ear stems that make its AirPods earbuds so instantly recognizable.

Of course, theres no guarantee that any of these rumors will be proven right, or that the AirPods Pro 2 will even be released in 2022. Apple hasnt confirmed that its working on the next generation of its noise-cancelling earbuds, and is very unlikely to do so before an official launch

Still, were pretty confident that the company will upgrade the AirPods Pro before the year is out. Three years after their release, the AirPods Pro are still a good pair of true wireless earbuds, but they certainly arent the best you can buy. Apple will want to change that by releasing a pair of earbuds that can compete with class-leading models from big competitors such as Sony, Bose and Sennheiser - and by focusing on more futuristic features, it could detract from areas its less adept in, like audio quality and noise cancellation.

Saying that, we daresay Apple will stay true to form and work on perfecting the less headline-grabbing features of the AirPods Pro before taking a risk on emerging technologies like biometric sensors, voice recognition, and gesture controls.

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Will the AirPods Pro 2 be as futuristic as the rumors suggest? - TechRadar

EDINBURGH, Scotland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A postgraduate student team from the National Robotarium has been selected to compete in Amazons new global AI competition. The team will create an embodied agent or robot butler to help people around the home.

Amazons Alexa Prize SimBot Challenge asks teams to create help for a futuristic world that can understand natural language, interact with humans, and accomplish tasks.

The National Robotarium team is the only non-US group to pass the selection process, demonstrating its world-leading expertise in embodied conversational AI research and teaching.

The National Robotarium is part of the Data-Driven Innovation initiative and is supported by 21 million from the UK Government and 1.4 million from the Scottish Government.

Stewart Miller, CEO, National Robotarium said: To be the only team from any country in the world outside the USA to be selected for the Alexa Prize SimBot Challenge demonstrates the global significance and capabilities of the teams within the National Robotarium. Backed by the combined robotic and AI experience of Heriot-Watt and the University of Edinburgh, were demonstrating our ability to lead global development in AI, pushing the boundaries of whats possible in a domestic setting.

Professor Verena Rieser, Professor of Conversational AI, National Robotarium, is advising the student team. She said: The objective of Amazons latest Alexa Prize challenge perfectly aligns with the aims of the National Robotarium which is to use robotics and artificial intelligence research to help people, solve global challenges and work in partnership with industry. With AI technology and machine learning offering exciting opportunities to complement our daily lives, exploring how these innovations can be further embedded in our homes is a fantastic learning opportunity for our students.

Alessandro Suglia, postdoctoral research fellow in Robotics and Autonomous Systems, National Robotarium said: Our team will create a next-generation assistant capable of learning continuously. We will focus on natural language generation and reasoning, machine perception, navigation, manipulation and dialogue creation to further push the boundaries of AI through our research.

The SimBot Challenge includes a public benchmark asking teams to design a machine-learning model with language-guided visual navigation and task completion. Phase 2 asks teams to test their bots to respond to customer commands and multimodal sensor inputs from within a virtual world.

ENDS

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National Robotarium Student Team to Create a Futuristic AI Butler - Business Wire

Tesla has agreed to update the software on almost 54,000 of its cars because a recent Full Self-Driving software update allowed them to break road rules and roll through stop signs without coming to a full stop.

Its the latest sign that regulators are becoming increasingly fed up of the Elon Musk-led companys efforts to automate but not fully automate, as the features name misleadingly suggests driving on public roads.

Tesla agreed to the recall after having two meetings with officials from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, according to the Associated Press.

Following discussions with NHTSA about our concerns, Tesla has informed the agency that it will conduct a recall of the Rolling Stop feature as one of the functionalities of the Driving Profile in its Full Self Driving software, reads an NHTSA statement to The Verge. In a new software update, a Rolling Stop will no longer be possible.

Theres a good deal ofevidence that the companys FSD beta, currently being tested by select customers on public roads, isnt quite ready for prime time. Several videos have shown vehicles with the feature turned on swerving towards pedestrians.

Tesla recently introduced an Assertive mode for its FSD software, an option that would perform more frequent lane changes, will not exit passing lanes, and may perform rolling stops, according to official documentation.

According to the NHTSAs documents, the feature allowed vehicles to travel past Stop signs at up to 5.6 mph, given a certain number of criteria including no other moving cars, pedestrians, or bicyclists, nearby are met.

Road safety advocates were appalled.

What happens when FSD decides a child crossing the street is not relevant and fails to stop? Philip Koopman, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, told the AP. This is an unsafe behavior and should never have been put in vehicles.

Regulators, including the NHTSA, are increasingly becoming wary of Tesla and its self-driving features and the recall may point towards future interferences.

They keep pushing the bounds of safety to see what they can get away with, and theyve really been pushing a lot, Jonathan Adkins, executive director of the governors safety association, told the AP. Each time its just a little bit more egregious. Its good to see NHTSA is pushing back.

READ MORE: Tesla recall: Full Self-Driving software runs stop signs [AP]

More on FSD: Watch Elon Musk Promise Self-Driving Cars Next Year Every Year Since 2014

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Tesla Says It's Updating Self-Driving Cars to No Longer Break the Law - Futurism

It feels like only yesterday we mourned the loss of our dearly departed planet Pluto. So it was hard to imagine losing another beautiful solar system buddy but the good news is we dont have to, because the goofballs who tried to prove Jupiter doesnt exist are 100 percent wrong.

A meme has been circulating since 2021 that shows a soda can exploding in a vacuum. The claim seems to be that if a soda can cant survive space, theres no way a planet made of gas could hold together.

This simple experiment, in which a soda can exposed to a vacuum environment explodes, demonstrates the impossibility of the existence of a pressurized environment within a vacuum without the presence of a suitable container, reads the hopefully meme, spotted by USA Today.

Gaseous planets as NASA tells us cannot exist, the conspiracy concludes at the bottom.

Its worth asking whether the meme is facetious. The account that shared it, Flat Earth Research, is so over the top that its difficult to ignore the possibility.

At the same time, though, many commenters seem to be taking the meme seriously, and there certainly are many people who, for reasons that defy comprehension, still think the Earth is flat. So lets go there.

First of all, its pretty clear that gas giants do, in fact, exist. You can see several of them with the naked eye, for instance. And beyond our solar system, NASA currently reports more than 1,400 gas giant discoveries on its websiteand defines a gas giant as a large planet mostly composed of helium, hydrogen, or both. Like Jupiter and Saturn, these planets dont have hard surfaces and instead feature swirling gas around a solid core.

Likening a gas giant to a soda can is more than a little reductive, and its also why the experiment doesnt debunk NASAs research. Elise Knittle, an Earth and planetary sciences professor at University of California, Santa Cruz, told USA Today that aluminum cans are pressurized to hold in the fizz from the carbon dioxide. The strength of the can and outside atmospheric pressure hold the soda in the can, but when dropped into a vacuum the pressure differential is great that the can ruptures.

It takes a BIG object to have enough self-gravity to hold together, which planets have, but soda cans dont.

The gravity is so great from the planet that it counteracts the pressure gradient between outer space and the planet, Knittle told the pub.

Its also worth mentioning that, you know, our very own Sun is a giant ball of burning gas and seems to hold its shape just fine. Every star does the same.

Nice try, Jupiter-deniers, but were not falling for your tricks. Tell the government we want Pluto back, too.

More on our love affair with Jupiter: NASA Scientists Predict Settlements on Moons of Saturn, Jupiter

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Nitwits Claim Wrongly to Have Disproved the Existence of Jupiter - Futurism

Business Wire IndiaRight to Protein, ahead of India's third annual Protein Day celebration on 27th February, declares Food Futurism as the theme for 2022 as it takes ahead its mission to drive food and especially protein sufficiency in the country through awareness, advocacy, and action. Food Futurism as a conversation will bring together nutrition experts, food scientists, biologists, among others to help Indians better understand the basic science behind healthy nutrition and its role in food security and protein sufficiency.The pandemic highlighted the need to build back better sustainably. The effects of global warming on agriculture, the inequality in access to food have further necessitated a paradigm shift in how onethink about food. Emerging scientific innovations present us with a growing range of opportunities to transformthe food and agriculture structures to fulfill the vision of a hunger-free India. Therefore, through this educative initiative, this year, Right to Protein will be initiating informed discussions and dialogues about the role of science and how methods such as genetically engineered foods can have in achieving food security. The discussions will address genuine concerns, misperceptions, and GMO anxiety among other topics.Supporting the effort,Varun Deshpande, Managing Director of Good Food Institute India (GFI India) says, In the face of challenges like climate change and pandemics, India needs a more secure, sustainable, and just food system. Reimagining our protein supply is key to that future. Plant-based foods and other smart protein sources are a generational opportunity to align planetary health stewardship, public health resilience, and economic growth.But tobring delicious, sustainable protein onto plates across the country, we need to invest in science, develop talent, and bridgeknowledge gaps. We are glad to support Food Futurism as the theme of Protein Day 2022 to achieve these goals in service of a better future."Dr. Suresh Itapu, Nutraceutical Expert, Director - NutriTech India, Human Nutrition Consultant USSEC and Supporter of the Right To Protein initiativesaid, As with any stream of science, weve often looked at different nuances of food science with skepticism mainly due to lack of knowledge leading to confusion, overblown fears, and myths. For instance, our concern about GMOs stems from a lack of awareness of how genes function it is simply a production technique. I believe that Food Futurism as the theme for Protein Day 2022 will help address some of these apprehensions while enhancing our scientific understanding as we collectively deliver on our larger food security and sufficiency goals.Since the inception of Indias first Protein Day in 2020, Right To Protein is all set to complete a treble, where like-minded citizens, nutritionists, food industry experts, chefs, and brands will come together to raise awareness and take a step towards making India a protein sufficient country through food science.

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Food Futurism Set as the Theme for Protein Day, February 2022 - IndianWeb2.com

Vehant Technologies was formed in 2005 as an outcome of incubation from IIT-Delhi. It is the leading company that develops state-of-the-art security screening solutions, smart and safe city solutions and enterprise analytics solutions with their central focus on artificial intelligence/machine learning. Vehant was cofounded by Anoop Prabhu and Kapil Bardeja with five Professors of Computer Science and Engineering from IIT-D as founding mentors, forming the companys backbone in the academia and industry research group. The main motivation of Vehant is to develop indigenous products and solutions out of India in the areas of computer vision and image processing, especially in security and surveillance.

It was a strategic necessity for the country to have these security products, made in India, so Vehant kick-started its journey by designing anunder-vehicle scanning system, which was till then imported in the country. Over the years since its inception, the company has supplied and installed around 1000 units in India and 14 other countries. Vehant also added an AI-based automated number plate reading system, which got morphed into Trafficmon: Traffic enforcement and management system that is now being deployed in almost 42 smart cities across India. In 2015, the firm developed the X-Ray baggage scanner that grabbed 25% of the market share in the last 2 years and got successfully sold to airports as well.

Anoop G Prabhu is the Co-Founder and CTO of Vehant Technologies. Since his college days, he has had a keen interest in imaging and computer vision technologies. During an internship at the IBM Research Labs, Anoop worked on R&D problems in the multimedia and image processing space. Subsequently, he also worked on another short stint at Mobileyes Research Centre, which is a pioneer in camera-based driver assistance systems in Israel, and this is when Anoop firmed up his interest in building solutions in imaging and AI technology circle.

Talking about how it all started, i.e., in the early 2000s, Anoop mentions that the future of the global vehicle surveillance market seemed promising with opportunities in the passenger car and commercial vehicle industries where security became more important due to terror attacks, security threats, etc. And so, he states that the demand for high-end technology solutions, growing R&D, changes in the pattern of buying, economic growth, and spreading awareness towards vehicle safety fuelled the markets growth.

In such a case, Vehant identified security as one area which was gaining huge prominence. In 2005, he Co-Founded the company along with Kapil Bardeja (Co-Founder and CEO) to build ZenScan, which is the under-vehicle scanning system.

According to Anoop, some of the difficulties that he and his teammates faced during the journey were more or less similar to what most of the entrepreneurs faced while starting a venue. Apart from these, he mentions that the UVSS was a product that was focussed on the security of the high-profile establishments to which there wasnt a practically established demand for India and Anoop considers this to be one of the initial challenges which he had to tackle. Establishing a market for the same was a painstaking process, but it allowed the company to become a market leader in that space, adds Anoop. Recruiting the key R&D talent in the initial days was another big challenge for Anoop and his team when the AI/ML boom was yet to take off.

Anoop states that businesses across the globe have adopted technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, robotics, the internet of things, big data, augmented reality, and more. Just about every industry and company will change because of these technologies and hence Anoop stresses the need of the leaders to understand and have conversations on taking technology-related decisions. The ability to understand what tech can do for an organization is essential, and leaders must continuously embrace new platforms and tech tools, claims Anoop.

According to him, every leader must consider to which disruptive innovation might influence their value chain and plan to respond to them or figure out whether they should use them in their business or not. Anoop pinpoints that they should understand their capabilities and limits to meet the outside dangers and opportunities of digitization.

He further articulates that business leaders must not only have to evolve quickly in this new and dynamic environment, but they also need to champion change throughout the organization to bridge the gap between old and new businesses and work realities.

Embarking on success and innovation, Anoop says, In my experience, one key aspect we always try to adhere to has been to choose techniques that lie somewhere in the middle of the wide AI/ML technology spectrum: they give us a good mix of accuracy, performance, and superlative value. We have seen this applicable in other areas as well including choice of imaging or computing hardware, UI/UX, etc. Another key advantage of this approach is that these are bound to be more robust than the most sophisticated ones or the latest kid on the block approach. Plus, its easier to find talent whove worked with these techniques or solutions.

Ultimately, Anoop opines that this approach provides more value to the customer and gives them more bang for the buck. He recounts how Vehant tries to use technology to stay one or two steps ahead of the competition so the company also has its flagship models, where it goes away from this philosophy and chooses more of the shinier, glittery building blocks.

Anoop always stands at the forefront of leveraging technologies. While talking about artificial intelligence, he clarifies that AI has offered Vehant many unprecedented opportunities to engage consumers in new and different ways. Today, the company has massive datasets at its fingertips as well as the extraordinary processing power to extract patterns, connections, and meaning from that data to get to the intent of consumers.

Anoop notes that AI is the buzzword of today and gets thrown around everywhere. He mentions that any serious solution or product offering today needs to have AI baked in to pass muster from customers, partners and technology experts alike. Having said that, Anoop expresses how experienced practitioners will understand that there are a wide variety of techniques ranging from the simplistic to the latest bleeding-edge deep neural networks that can be thrown at any given problem.

Disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence/ big data/ cloud computing, according to Anoop, are likely to play a major role in improving the quality of life of people, global economies, and business models of companies. As technology is evolving at a very fast pace, he says that the advancement is changing the way we work, live, and do business ushering us into the age of information.

Considering bigger developments, Anoop remarks that autonomous vehicles (AVs) have been in development for a while, however, they are expected to bring about several benefits including fewer road accidents, more efficient fuel consumption, and reduced traffic congestion. Lastly, he adds that healthcare is also seeing numerous possibilities of integrating AI into its existing systems.

Anoop remarks that Vehant intends to continue its position as a market leader in the UVSS range of products, to grow its market share to around 30% in the X-Ray business, and also to add new X-ray scanning use cases for people and vehicles. He adds that the company also wishes to expand to the South East Asian region for smart city business, add new use cases on smart city and private AI-based analytics space, and retain a 60% market share in the smart city portfolio. In the long term, Anoop says that Vehant aspires to be an 800-1000 crore Indian MNC with a diversified portfolio of India-made products in the Security, surveillance, and traffic management space across the world.

Every year, far more Millennials fail than succeed in entrepreneurship. But if you arent one of the lucky few, dont lose hope: Failure has transformed from a source of shame into a badge of honour, says Anoop He opines that they should create jobs of the future, not simply train for them as it will undoubtedly play a greater role in the years ahead. Anoop affirms that they should ask themselves the most important skills needed to succeed in the workforce of the future because what is trendy today may not be the same in the next few years since technology is evolving rapidly.

One should also keep the communication lines open, and you will set yourself up for more interesting work and a faster career progression in no time. Focus on end goals, and while everyone has favourites, do not be tied to only one technology tool or framework, concludes Anoop.

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Anoop G Prabhu: Spearheading Disruptive Technologies to Unravel Futuristic Solutions in the Security and Surveillance Sphere - Analytics Insight

Welcome toWhats Next In War, a special issue where Task & Purpose breaks down whats on the horizon for the U.S. military.

Despite a year-long delay and reports that the Army still has more work to do to perfect its newest futuristic goggles, some lucky soldiers can expect to get their hands on them this year.

The Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) is expected to undergo more testing in May, according to Courtney Bacon, a spokeswoman for Program Executive Office Soldier. Bacon said that the IVAS is still on track to be fielded to its first unit by the end of the fiscal year, which ends in September.

The IVAS system, based on Microsofts existing HoloLens 2 technology, has been tested by soldiers since 2019. It has been a top priority for service leaders as the Army worked to modernize the force; in 2019, former Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy called it a signature priority in the Armys budget.

The system will provide troops with augmented reality a technology that overlays digital information onto the screen soldiers are looking through while wearing the goggles for training and on-the-spot language translations; high-resolution night and thermal sensors; facial recognition software; and the ability to see what a location or objective looks like before they get there. It will even give soldiers the ability to see outside of a vehicle before they exit, providing greater awareness of what theyre walking into.

Theres always a line between the squads and the tracks, and having this equipment is going to help tie them in so the dismounts in the back can see the actual optics of the vehicle itself and then they can seamlessly work with the crew because everyone can see around the vehicle without actually having to step outside of it, said Army Sgt. John Martin, a Bradley master gunner who tested out the goggles last February. It has countless uses like land navigation, being able to track things while on the battlefield, moving through urban complexes, moving through open terrain, its insane.

And aside from the system itself, the way it was tested was new for the Army actually giving soldiers the ability to try out the equipment theyll be using as its developed was a novel, albeit common-sense concept brought into practice by Army Future Command.

But a recent report by Bloomberg said the heads-up display was found to have not yet demonstrated the capability to serve as a fighting goggle. The Army and Microsoft, who are developing the goggles, need to improve display quality and reliability, Jessica Maxwell, a spokeswoman for the Pentagons Operational Test and Evaluation office, told Bloomberg. More information about what work was still to be done came on Thursday with the release of the annual Operational Test & Evaluation report, which said the Army needed to continue to mitigate deficiencies and complete a battery and power management plan to determine how soldiers will charge batteries in order to complete a 72-hour mission scenario.

The latest developments follow a years-long process which ran into issues almost immediately. Upon the announcement that Microsoft would be working with the Army to develop the goggles in 2018, over 200 Microsoft employees wrote an open letter to company leadership demanding that the contract be dropped.

We are alarmed that Microsoft is working to provide weapons technology to the US Military, helping one countrys government increase lethality using tools we built, the letter said, according to The Verge. We did not sign up to develop weapons, and we demand a say in how our work is used.

In response to the open letter, McCarthy told CNBC that he appreciated the employees concerns but these are the same men and women that are protecting their freedoms so they can develop this technology, And last March, Microsoft was awarded a contract for almost $22 billion to begin producing the IVAS.

While the IVAS was originally supposed to be fielded to soldiers last year, PEO Soldier confirmed in October that it was being delayed to give the development team time to enhance the IVAS technology platform and make it the best it can be for the soldiers wearing it.

The system has also raised concerns in Congress. Last year, lawmakers demanded that a portion of the programs funding be withheld until the Army could provide more answers about its development and delays.

But despite the back-and-forth, the IVAS cant come soon enough for the soldiers who will use it. The system was most recently tested by a Ranger battalion who put it through its paces, using it for land navigation, rapid target acquisition, and mission exercises.

Sgt. 1st Class Brian Hayman, a platoon sergeant in 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, said in an Army release that the IVAS essentially erases human error during land navigation. It saves time by cutting out the need to look at a compass or check a map because the compass is on the inside of the goggles.

You never have to stop to do a map check or anything like that because, with just the push of a button, you have an arrow thats in the bottom of your screen and you walk the arrow to your point, so theres no accidentally drifting left or right, he said.

Staff Sgt. Jake Croxdale, a squad leader in the battalion, echoed the same. Having the ability to access a map by hitting just one button instead of having to stop and look at a compass, map, or phone, allowed me not to stop as much as I normally would, and ultimately execute faster.

Another key component the Rangers pointed out was the ability to see where everyone on your team is on the digital map in the goggles. 1st Lt. Luke Huen said being able to see where everyones located on the battlefield at any given point in time is by far the best feature.

Ultimately, Hayman admitted that the thought process behind the IVAS is incredible.

It blows my mind that were in a day and age where the system even exists, he said.

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The Army is finally getting its futuristic heads-up display into more soldiers hands this year - Task & Purpose

The captivating art of Andrey Tkachenko creates an original universe that is gaining traction with fans from all corners of the world.

The USSR of artist Andrey Tkachenko is different from what it was in reality. In the artists version of the Soviet reality, the country was populated with aliens and mythical creatures, while Soviet people were utilizing robots and futuristic vehicles in daily life.

At the same time, subtle details of everyday life in the USSR familiar to many people who witnessed the epoch find their way into the artists paintings.

The end result is a curious mix of sci-fi and Soviet entourage, which captivated the attention of Tkachenkos fans and social media followers.

Using his Instagram page, website and print materials, Tkachenko creates what he calls a Parallel USSR, a country that has never existed, but which is no less fascinating as a result.

It is my fantasy. I was a kid growing up at the time. For me, the USSR is not a political system. Instead, its warm memories from my childhood. I remember vehicles and the people who surrounded me and I use these memories to create paintings today, Tkachenko says.

The artist works full-time as an industrial designer. In his spare time, he indulges in fantasies featuring aliens, mythical creatures, and sci-fi vehicles.

Tkachenkos art seems to have no boundaries: there are mobile Russian folk huts moving on tank tracks, biomechanical creatures escaping from secret Soviet laboratories, robots living in the Russian countryside, Goliath in Siberia, Baba Yagas hut running on gasoline and mermaids casually observing flying saucers, to name a few.

I really like the novels of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and other Soviet science fiction. My drawings reflect this passion. I write background stories for my pictures myself. Sometimes I have an image or a story in my head and then I transfer it on paper in the form of a drawing, Tkachenko says.

The artist dreams of getting into the filmmaking industry and applying his talent there. Tkachenko already has experience working for a Hollywood film studio.

I was chosen to be a car designer in the animated movie Fast & Furious: Spy Racers by DreamWorks Animation Television, based on the Fast & Furious franchise, the designer says.

Yet, his ambitions seem to be bigger. I would like to work with [Russian film director] Fyodor Bondarchuk, because he has had experience with movies based on Strugatskys work. I am open to all offers, Tkachenko says.

The prospect of getting into filmmaking might not be too distant for the artist, who is just as popular in Russia, as he is abroad. Tkachenko explains this by fresh ideas underpinning his world of the parallel USSR.

As one foreign fan told me, this is something new. If you take the plots of Hollywood movies, they are sort of set in stone, everything is clear. There are clichs that go from a movie to a movie. The parallel USSR is something new [for a foreign audience]: its a new time and a new country for them, which I portray in a new light, the artist concludes.

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Artist populates USSR with aliens, mythical creatures, and futuristic vehicles (PHOTOS) - Russia Beyond

The elements of this years three SYFY Movie Nights films include giant ants, mutants and the consequences of communicating with Marseach film is from the 1950s, and in addition to the classic sci-fi plotlines, the movies are tied together through a theme of nuclear war.

The series is hosted by Richard Codd and Nora Shepard, who first got the idea in 2020. The couple is passionate about science-fiction moviesparticularly classicsand thought itd be fun to have free town movie nights devoted to the genre. They partnered with the Moab Arts and Recreation Center and the Moab to Monument Valley Film Commission to put on the series.

Codd and Shepard decided the theme should be nuclear war and its unavoidable, disastrous consequences, which drew them to films from the 50s.

Back in the 1950s, during the Cold War, there was so much emphasis in thinking about nuclear weapons and nuclear war, Codd said. I remember as a kid, practicing drills for if we were under nuclear attack, we would run down into the basement of the school.

Codd and Shepard picked out three movies to screen.

The series will kick off with the giant ant saga Them! (1954) on Friday, February 4. The movie follows investigator Ben Peterson, FBI agent Robert Graham, and scientist Dr. Harold Medford as they look into a series of mysterious deathsand find that the incidents are all due to giant ants that have been mutated by atomic radiation. The film is considered both science-fiction and horror, and is well received: on Rotten Tomatoes, it scores a 93% on the tomatometer, a measurement of positive recommendations.

The following Friday movie lovers can watch the 1956 film World Without End, in which a group of astronauts returning to Earth are caught in a time warp and propelled into a post-apocalyptic earth in the year 2508. But the planet isnt how they left it: its populated by atomic radiation mutants, both monsters and humans. The film is science-fiction but also has moments of romance, as some of the humans arent mutated.

To round out the series, Red Planet Mars (1952) will screen on Friday, February 18. The film follows the story of an American scientist who makes contact with Mars after suspecting the planet is home to intelligent life. He makes contact and learns that the intelligent life forces on Mars claim that the planet is a utopia, as they are technologically advanced and have eliminated scarcity. The life forces of Mars inform earth that the people of earth can become a utopia if they return to the worship of God. This has devastating effects on Earth, causing political and religious schisms.

Were hoping COVID is under enough control that we can get local folks out again for a fun evening, Codd said. In February in Moab, its a quiet time, people are looking for something to do. And we just thought this would be a fun event.

The movies will be screened at the Moab Arts and Recreation Center (111 E. 100 North). Doors open at 6 p.m., movies begin at 6:30. Costumes are encouraged, and there will be door prizes, along with a few other surprises, Codd said.

Last time we did SYFY Movie Nights we had an alien show up, said Bega Metzner, film commissioner at the Moab to Monument Valley Film Commission. Who or what will make an appearance this year?

Metzner said shes excited to partner with Codd again to bring another round of three classic, awesome and hilarious sci-fi films to the community.

Here on our very own Red Planet Mars on a World Without End, you might just be lucky enough to encounter Them! she said.

There are a few health and safety protocols: masks are required, and capacity is capped at 40 people. To reserve tickets, go to http://www.moabarts.org. Tickets are free.

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Giant ants, mutants and futuristic utopias: SYFY Movie Nights returns with three films from the 1950s - Moab Sun News

HOMES where robots do chores were a sci-fi vision in US cartoon The Jetsons in the Eighties. But smart homes are now a reality, less crazy-looking, and can save both money and the environment.

Theres an outlay for kit but often you more than recoup it and, from day one, you cut CO2 and plastic waste. A smart thermostat turns off heating if youre out, a smart washing machine uses just the right amount of water and LED lights are a bright idea, using a fraction of the power normal bulbs do.

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There are smart blinds, ovens and even loos too. Here are some of the options.

Aqualisa Quartz Classic, from 714,wolseley.co.uk: You know how it is... youre waiting for the shower to warm up to just how you like it, leaning in to test the water for ages. With this shower, LED lights show when it reaches your individual setting (no more getting scalded when you shower after someone else).

In some systems, a proximity sensor reduces the flow when you move away from the shower an instant water saving. And it works with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, so you can control everything simply with your voice.

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Washloo Supreme, 1,995,washloo.co.uk: This toilet is genius. It has a heated seat, night light, will wash and dry your bum and even deodorise the loo.

This eliminates the need for loo roll saving money and the environment.

Too pricey? The Washloo Classic, on sale for 399, does all this and bolts on to your existing toilet.

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Boxt boiler, from 1,520,boxt.co.uk: On average, a new boiler will save around 300 per year at current gas prices.

Boxts website is very smart, giving you a fixed price as soon as you answer a few questions.

Choose from Baxi, Vaillant, Ideal and Worcester Bosch.

Then, you can add smart accessories such as thermostats and smoke alarms and theyll fit them for free while the boiler is installed.

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Quooker tap, from 1,150,quooker.co.uk: This is an expensive tap at first.

But as well as hot and cold water, it will give you boiling water instantly and more efficiently than kettles. Quooker reckons it costs just 4p a day to run.

Add an accessory called a Cube (1,150) and you can get sparkling and chilled water from the tap, too.

This will save money in the long run and helps the environment by reducing the amount of plastic bottles being used.

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Bosch Home Connect Serie 6 Washing Machine, 699, John Lewis: Control this from anywhere, via the app on your phone. Enter the type of laundry and soil level and it uses just the right amount of detergent and water.

Bosch Home Connect is also in ovens, hobs and fridges which you can control with your voice.

Thats great for turning the fridge down to save money while youre away or making sure the hob is definitely off.

Dinner in the oven but youre delayed coming home? Alexa can pause the oven for you - lowering the temperature until youre ready so your meal isnt ruined.

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Tado smart thermostat, from 199.99,uk.shop.tado.com: If nobodys home, this thermostat knows and reminds you to adjust the heating.

If you open a window, it knows youre too hot and turns the heating down.

It also sends you energy savings reports so you know youre spending less cash.

And, with the right smart speaker or app, you can control it with your voice.

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Duette smart blinds, prices vary, duette.co.uk: Duettes blinds can be battery-powered, so there is no fiddly wiring. And there is voice control say Alexa, Good Morning and theyll open.

Duettes honeycomb design keeps heat in better than regular blinds or curtains. They reduce heat loss by up to 46 per cent. In the winter, this cuts heating bills by up to 12 per cent.

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Philips Hue, from 69.99,philips-hue.com: Philips Hue is the leader in smart lighting and it shows.

Choose from white bulbs or those with literally millions of colours. You can control the lights from a smartphone or with your voice.

The starter kit includes a bridge that connects to your broadband and means you can turn the lights on whether you are at home or not. LED bulbs save a lot of energy, too up to 80 per cent less electricity.

SAY WHAT YOU MEAN

Though some of the smart appliances here have physical controls, such as the Quooker tap, others work when you talk to them.

If you have an Amazon device, such as the Echo Show 15 which works as a smart home hub, you can simply say Alexa, turn the heating up and the appropriate smart device will respond.

In most cases, the same will work with Google Assistant (say, Hey, Google...) and with Apples Siri virtual assistant (Hey, Siri).

Much easier than flipping switches.

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From smart loos to futuristic blinds the home tech that can save cash and the planet... - The Sun