I was talking to a woman the other day about how much she liked the company she worked for. It’s fun and modern in most ways, but there was one big catch — the management team is still stuck in the past when it comes to this year’s biggest challenge for employees and companies… returning to the office. Their CEO had recently announced that they expect employees to work from the office again five days a week as soon as things return to normal....

While most of us just imagine though, others create. So, enter the Arque – a mechanical tail that allows humans to experience the benefits our extended-backbone brethren take for granted. Just look at this thing: The Arque was announced in the run-up to SIGGRAPH 2019, as part of the event’s Emerging Technologies line-up. It’s a collaboration between a number of Japanese creatives, specifically, Junichi Nabeshima, MHD Yamen Saraiji, and Kouta Minamizawa from the Keio University Graduate School of Media Design....

But the butterflies have started up again, because I’ve had the pleasure of testing out the latest iteration of the device, simply known as the Bluesound Node. Let me tell you of its charms. Who is Bluesound? If you haven’t heard of them, the company positions itself as the audiophille Sonos. It produces wireless audio equipment with features designed to appeal to the music nerds, including a gamut of input and support for streaming high-quality music files....

While only three episodes have been released at the time of this writing, The Mandalorian is so far a decent show — but probably not for the reasons anyone suspected it would be. Sure, it’s got the space western aspects promised by the trailer, and it also expands the lore by exploring the period immediately after the fall of the Empire. And while the Mando himself is a great character, a deeply conflicted individual veiled in stoic indifference, he’s not the aspect of the show that’s captured everyone’s hearts....

But the question I have is where are the engineers in this? Surely, before we shut down the entire society in response to the pandemic, we should check if there are engineering solutions that could help halt or slow the spread of the virus – from door handles that kill viruses to new ways of pressing lift buttons. In the UK, the government normally consults the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) in situations like this....

The post noted that the browser might have some features missing from the desktop version, but it already has cross-site tracking prevention mechanism and defense against fingerprinting attacks (a type of attack to sniff web traffic without breaking encryption). Tor browser – built on Firefox’s base – uses a network of servers to hide your identity from the website you’re visiting. To do that, it bounces off requests through intermediate computers (relays) before reaching the destination....

Since 2020, there’s been a growing body of important research into the impact of online learning for educators. But the student voice, which is essential to informing good design and facilitation of online learning, has been largely unexamined. Our Student Online Learning Experiences (SOLE) research project aims to rectify this and give voice to those who are, arguably, at the heart of the COVID-19 education crisis. The study uses data from nearly 1000 survey responses from students across all eight New Zealand universities....

The Tap Stap 2 just launched today, launching at $200 and its main new addition is the ability to use the wearable as an air mouse. While previously you could use it as a mouse by placing your hand on a desk and moving it around like a regular mouse, the air mouse feature lets you navigate simply by waving your fingers around with a few gestures. This is particularly useful if there is no adequate surface nearby, such as during presentations or if you want to control a smart TV from your couch....

The Protecting the Right to Organize Act—a bill aimed at making it easier for workers to unionize—passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week. If it makes it through the considerably less friendly U.S. Senate, the legislation would constitute a major shift in labor law by overriding state “right to work” laws and making some contract workers eligible to join unions. Tech companies and labor advocates are abuzz. “We’re in one of those turning points in history,” said Caitlin Vega, labor lawyer and co-founder of union lobbying firm Union Made....

Here at SHIFT, we think that in 10 years time — when gasoline vehicles are banned — we’ll look back on an entire decade of EVs that will be worth remembering. There will be highlights for sure, but we doubt that one year alone will stand out among the rest. Why? Because 2021 will be another year that we see many more exciting and futuristic EVs unleashed into the wild....

The research team reported the findings after combing through 57 textbooks and more than 1,000 research papers to create a list of 180 algorithms that were either the first to solve particular problems or had improved existing fundamental methods. They call their collection the “Algorithmic Commons.” The team then extracted information about the institutions and birth countries of the authors of the papers. They found that around two-thirds of the contributions were made at US institutions, but that in the last 30 years more than three-quarters of them have come from foreign-born researchers....

The International Space Station (ISS) has been at the forefront of the extraterrestrial fallout. Dmitry Rogozin, the controversial head of Russian space agency Roscomos, warned last week that sanctions threatened the very existence of the lab: His ominous rebuke brought attention to Russia’s crucial role in the project. The country controls a propulsion system that keeps the ISS in orbit. Without it, the satellite could slowly fall toward the atmosphere....

For many of us, the question conjures up images from movies, novels, posters, and media reports. But these visualizations are often risibly unrealistic depictions of AI. Just check out these beauties: These images might make us laugh. Unfortunately, they can also mislead us about AI’s potential, reinforce stereotypes, and erase minorities from visions of the future. [Read: Why entrepreneurship in emerging markets matters] You might have noticed, for instance, the abundance of white, human-like bodies in the picture....

In this story, we’ll look at what to expect from this new device, and Google’s history with headsets. What will the device be like? The Verge’s report notes that Project Iris will be reminiscent of ski goggles and won’t require any tethering to a power source, such as a phone or a PC. Here’s a picture of a pair of ski goggles below — and I quite like the look of AR glasses like that....

Marcel Schuck, a researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich), is developing a method for robots to carry small objects without touching them at all. Ultrasound waves can generate a pressure wave that humans can’t see or hear. Balance the amount of pressure around a small object, and it will seem to float in midair, in a phenomenon known as acoustic levitation. It looks a bit like robotic telekinesis....

When weeds get industrious enough to squirt out from around every paving stone and walkway and curb area near a home, you can’t exactly just run a lawnmower over it and be done. It usually requires a little more intensive work, including actually crouching down, yanking, and trying to finagle those tight roots out from their death-grip perch. Half the time, you just want to take a flamethrower to the whole darn thing....

If you’re a fan of sci-fi futuristic movies such as Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars, you’re already familiar with hoverbikes, or simply flying bikes. Well, seeing hoverbikes in movies presenting futuristic and semi-human societies is normal, I guess. But seeing them in real life can be mind-blowing, super weird, what-the-fuck — you name it. So, I was extremely surprised when Japanese startup A.L.I. Technologies unveiled its Xturismo hoverbike last November at a race track near Tokyo....

Sometimes, we all need a little push. If you’re a video game fan, you’ve probably always considered learning some of the skills needed to create cool games of your own. Of course, when it actually came time to really dig in to do the work and get that training…well heck, it’s time for another game, right? We get it. Playing games is usually more fun than working to create them....

Over the weekend, reports surfaced that Kandi Technologies Group will be bringing its K27 and K23 electric vehicles to a “limited area in Texas,” TechCrunch reports. The K27 — a 17.69 kWh battery EV with a range of up to 100 miles (around 160 km) — starts at $20,499 and would be eligible for $7,500 federal income tax credit. Meaning some Texans will be able to buy it for around $13,000 — assuming there are no other fees....

While accomplishing professional-grade graphic design work is simpler than ever before, actually acquiring the tools to create those quality vector images can set you back a few bucks. For example, using the multimedia design features of Adobe’s Creative Cloud to create sharp vector graphics will usually cost you anywhere from $20 to over $50 a month. Instead, you can harness all that creative power and save a few dollars at the same time with a subscription to the Gravit Designer PRO app....