Flying electric car prototype unveiled in Brazil, bringing Uber-like aerial ride-sharing closer to reality

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SAO PAULO, Brazil – Embraer, the Brazilian aerospace giant that produces commercial, military, executive, and agricultural aircraft is now taking the next step in unveiling a prototype for an electric flying car aimed at the passenger market as part of its project to develop an air urban mobility ecosystem.

The working prototype took to the air at Embraer’s headquarters in Gavião Peixoto, São Paulo, last week. The vertical take-off vehicle looks like an oversized drone, with 10 propellers - 8 horizontal and 2 vertical - and is designed to transport passengers in what will eventually be totally autonomous flight, said the company.

The long road to prepare it for market includes obtaining certification for electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOL) and the full development of solutions for urban air traffic management.

Uber is already working with Embraer on this future-focused project. “Embraer’s team focused on the customer experience with their latest vehicle concept, using built-in redundant systems to achieve optimal safety, while also achieving low noise output with an eight rotor system, which enables span-wise lift,” said Mark Moore, Engineering Director of Aviation, Uber. “Our team looks forward to continued collaboration with the Embraer team to achieve a quiet, green, and safe, aerial ridesharing vehicle.”

By Milan Sime Martinic

Fully automated convenience stores open in São Paulo

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SÃO PAULO – French multinational Carrefour, an operator of retail and grocery stores in Brazil, announced this week the launch of its first two autonomous neighborhood markets.

The convenience stores will operate without humans at checkout counters and without customer service, a model that goes a step beyond Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology which runs partially automated stores in some US and UK cities.

The Brazilian stores do not have employees to assist with purchases nor automatic cashiers. Instead, clients use an app to enter the stores and customers pay as if on an e-commerce website and receive a code to leave the store.

The stores have been operating since mid-December, but have just now been announced, according to the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Brazil’s new supersonic fighter jet already in test phase

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SAO PAOLO, Brazil – The skies over Sao Paulo state are roaring with low-altitude flights of the Saab-designed Gripen-E military aircraft being built by the Swedish company but completed and serviced at a nearby Embraer plant and Brazil’s National Aircraft Development Center.

The airplanes are part of a $4.5 billion order for 36 aircraft by the Brazilian Air Force, of which 15 will be fully produced by Embraer.

The flights are at times at an altitude of only 15 feet over flat, sparsely in order to minimize the effect of the sonic booms on people on the ground, says Saab, but the company does not report the speeds attained on test flights.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Hackers hack into 150,000 security cameras worldwide

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An international hacker collective wanting to show how monitored we are and how easy surveillance systems are to hack, breached camera-maker Verkada, gaining access to the video systems of all its customers which included hospitals, prisons, schools and police stations, and companies such as Tesla, Cloudflare and others, according to Swiss hacker Tillie Kottmann, who claimed credit on behalf of the collective.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Brazil will monitor forest threats with first nationally-developed satellite

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SAO PAOLO – Brazil’s new Earth observation satellite is the first one to be 100% conceptualized, designed, integrated, tested, and operated by Brazil.

Amazonia-1 was put into orbit from from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India at dawn Sunday after 13 years of development. It will sense, observe, and track deforestation in the Amazon region.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Softbank Buying Google’s Robot Company

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Japanese telecom company Softbank (the 62nd largest public company in the world) is buying Boston Dynamics from Alphabet (Google’s parent company). Softbank also got Japanese bipedal robotics company Schaft as part of the deal.

Details of the deal weren’t published.

Google bought Boston Dynamics in 2013 but put it back up for sale again last year. There were questions about what Google could really make of the venture, and also there were questions about the effect giant metal dog-like robots, which might find applications in warlike settings, would have on the image of Google.

Japan is a country that has publicly made it known that they will not look to immigration to add labor to support their aging population of baby boomers. They will instead look to robots.

A Straw Detects Date-Rape Drugs, Turns Color

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It was invented by some teenagers for a high school business plan competition in Miami.

GHB and Ketamine are common date rape drugs (as well as being used voluntarily for recreation). They don’t have a smell or taste, so victims can’t know when they’ve been slipped into their drinks.

The straw invented has a strip that turns blue when it comes in contact with GHB and Ketamine. The three girls behind the idea are seeking a patent for their design.

VHS Era Ends

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I mean really ends.

Archivists and preservationists are feeling pressed for time as the VHS magnetic tape deadline approaches. Some are calling it the “magnetic media crisis.”

15-20 years is all VHS tapes are really expected to be good for. Like all magnets, the strength fades over time, and once enough of the magnetic field fades from a tape, you can’t recover the video. Another thing with tapes which isn’t usually an issue in the modern digital era is that there is often only one copy of each video.

So a lot of people who want to preserve their video memories made during the 80s and 90s are bringing business to companies that transfer their VHS tapes onto digital formats, which have a much longer shelf-life, and can be saved easily in multiple places and shared.

Dronefence Gets Funding

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Drones in commercial, industrial, government, public, and private spaces — everywhere — pose various threats. And they can be just a plain nuisance as well.

One company working on this problem is Dronefence. They have a patent-pending tech that basically uses 2 cameras in stereo and a sensor, as well as some software, to identify drones in the air, check if their registration passes muster, and sound an alarm if it doesn’t. The system also records video footage of the drone.

Currently, Dronefence is just working on the identification. How to deal with intruding drones is another thing. But they’ve now acquired seed funding for their project from VP Capital, Larnabel Ventures, Boundary Holding, and the Technology and Business Consulting Group.

World’s First Hybrid Aeroboat

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It’s capable of travelling over water, snow, sand and land, it can carry 10 people, and it has no problem with steep slopes and embankments … and it’s about to be unveiled at the Skolkovo Foundation’s Startup Village in Russia this week. … By the way, its very different from hovercraft, and it goes way faster (keep reading).

Who will end up buying these boats? Government agencies (for emergencies and surveillance), corporations (for transporting passengers and cargo to infrastructure sites such as oil and gas rigs in shallow waters), and individuals (for transport and recreation).

“They can be used for a whole variety of applications, including search and rescue operations, transportation of people and cargo, leisure, sports, fishing, monitoring of ports and surveillance,” according to the designers.

The Aeroboat was made as a joint Russia-India project, and was designed by IIAAT Holding. The St. Petersburg firm designed the Aeroboat in order to do what is currently impossible: Shallow water, dry patches, and marine plant-life in marshy or flooded areas pose a problem for traditional boats and other vehicles, and nevermind that terrain sometimes changes drawstically with the seasons.

So how is it different from hovercraft?

Besides being more robust, cheaper to maintain and fuel, the company explained, “Hovercrafts work on static air-cushion, whereas Aeroboats work on dynamic air-cushion. This feature gives Aeroboats a huge advantage in terms of speed and maneuverability.

“While hovercrafts on average move at around 45-50 kmh, Aeroboats are capable of going at around 150 kmh and even more on water, These speed levels are critical, especially during search and rescue operations, where sometimes every minute of swiftness can result in saving lives, as well as frequency in transportation of both passengers and cargo.”

Other interesting things about the Aeroboat: IIAAT developed nanomaterial-based anti-friction technology for the engine and selected mechanical parts, which greatly reduces friction and energy losses. The Aeroboat comes with either a standard gas or a hybrid gas-electric engine for increased efficiency and reduced pollution.

“Additionally, we are equipping our Aeroboats with [Internet of Things] technology, which allows us to remotely monitor and control/diagnose the equipment, as well as troubleshoot selected faults,” commented Sukrit Sharan, a senior board member of IIAAT. IIAAT is working with InfoWatch Group (Russian cybersecurity) in order to ensure its IoT tech stays secure.

India has already bought 25 units, and 5 have been delivered, and its expected the Aeroboats will be used in India’s vast regions of rivers and canals, which are sometimes dry land, sometimes monsoon flood. A similar but different use is predicted for Russia, where there is also government interest, because parts of the country with rivers and canals that are sometimes frozen, and so boats can’t transport year-round.

And guess what? They’re already working on a new version: an electric-only one Aeroboat with tandem wings.

Jumbo-Diamond Detecting System Attracts Attention From Mining Company

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Developed by the Russian company Diamant, the tech uses the tagged neutron method to find large diamonds inside kimberlite ores.

The unique advantage of the TNM method is to provide an image of the hidden object in three-dimensions, without having to crack open a bunch of rock.

Alrosa has come out as one of Diamant’s first customers. Currently, Alrosa crushes kimberlite to find diamonds, but this can end up damaging the precious stones, as well as being more expensive than Diamant’s dry method.

It’s Called ‘Ringless Voicemail’

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Why You Get Spam Voicemail When Your Phone Doesn’t Even Ring Now

It’s the latest thing in telemarketing. The phone doesn’t ring, but you hear a notification that you have a new voicemail.

It’s called “ringless voicemail” and it’s getting more common this year.

The great thing about ringless voicemail — if you are a telemarketer or debt collector — and the worst thing if you are a person with a phone is that you can’t block the call.

Yes, there are consumer protection laws that ban certain types of telephone marketing, but ringless voicemail is not currently classified as a call. The companies that provide ringless voicemail services are arguing that they shouldn’t be classified as calls. And regulators are considering the issue.

On the other side, consumer advocates are arguing that these calls will just become more popular and will end up clogging up voicemail inboxes with automated messages. People won’t be able to get their important messages, it might cost more, it will take more time, and it will prevent people from using their phones in the way they want to.

The matter is a new one, so the chips are still in the air as to how governments will deal with the ringless voicemail phenomenon.