Lifeboat Foundation

By Sandra I. Erwin

A laser beam the size of a quarter fired from the back of a truck successfully shot down football-size mortar rounds and took small drones out of the sky.

In the world of directed-energy weapons, this was a milestone achievement, government and industry officials said. It happened between Nov. 18 and Dec. 10 during tests of the Army “high energy laser mobile demonstrator” at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.

Continue reading “Laser Weapons Are Finally Here, but Future Remains in Doubt” »

Transleadership! By Mr. Andres Agostini

This is an excerpt from the conclusion section of, “…Transleadership!…” that discusses some management, leadership and futurism theories and practices and strategies.

To read the entire piece, just click the link at the end of article:

Continue reading “Transleadership” »

By Sharon Gaudin

Computerworld - China’s lunar probe, and the moon rover it carried, landed successfully Saturday night, marking a major accomplishment for the country’s space efforts.

This is the first time a spacecraft from China has landed on an extraterrestrial body. China becomes the third country, after the United States and Russia, to land a spacecraft on the moon.

China’s Chang’e-3 craft lifted off early on Dec. 2 on top of an enhanced Long March-3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China.

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By Jacob Kastrenakes

The clever automation service IFTTT is getting a lot more powerful today with the addition of location features. In an update to IFTTT’s iPhone app that’s rolling out now, the service will be able to begin watching your location, allowing it to automatically trigger tasks based on where you are. When you’re nearing home, you could have IFTTT automatically turn on your connected light bulbs, send an SMS to your roommate that you’re on the way, or send out a tweet that you’re back, among dozens of other possibilities. It’s also added in special triggers for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Foursquare that can let you automate a task whenever you post from one of them at specific location.

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By Associated Press

The former owner of a Las Vegas casino says he’s willing to accept the online currency bitcoin in the $7.85 million sale of his home.

LAS VEGAS — A casino owner-turned-commercial developer is asking $7.85 million to sell a Las Vegas home, and he’s willing to accept the online currency bitcoin for the deal.

Continue reading “Vegas developer selling $7.85M mansion for bitcoin” »

Roberto A. Ferdman

Researchers at Cornell University have managed to 3D print a loudspeaker, according to the University’s newspaper. Using two customizable 3D printers originally developed at Cornell, a team of graduate mechanical engineering students managed to almost seamlessly print the loudspeaker’s plastic, cond

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By Zeke Miller and Denver Nicks — The phone call came from a charming woman with a bright, engaging voice to the cell phone of a TIME Washington Bureau Chief Michael Scherer. She wanted to offer a deal on health insurance, but something was fishy.

Several Time reporters called her back.

Continue reading “Meet the Robot Telemarketer Who Denies She’s A Robot” »

By JOHN MARKOFF

SAN FRANCISCO — BigDog, Cheetah, WildCat and Atlas have joined Google’s growing robot menagerie.

Google confirmed on Friday that it had completed the acquisition of Boston Dynamics, an engineering company that has designed mobile research robots for the Pentagon. The company, based in Waltham, Mass., has gained an international reputation for machines that walk with an uncanny sense of balance and even — cheetahlike — run faster than the fastest humans.

It is the eighth robotics company that Google has acquired in the last half-year. Executives at the Internet giant are circumspect about what exactly they plan to do with their robot collection. But Boston Dynamics and its animal kingdom-themed machines bring significant cachet to Google’s robotic efforts, which are being led by Andy Rubin, the Google executive who spearheaded the development of Android, the world’s most widely used smartphone software.

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Superslide. By Mr. Andres Agostini

This is an excerpt from the conclusion section of, “…Superslide (…A Three-Meter Slide).…” that discusses some management and futurism theories and practices. To read the entire piece, just click the link at the end of article:

EXCERPT. Ensuing:

“…Jeff Immelt realizes that the world changes every day and that his job is to keep GE competitive in that changing world. But his ability to take the company where it needs to go is greatly facilitated by the fact that he has a clear understanding of where he is starting…”

“…Stewart’s ranking reflects a massive movement underway to actually measure intellectual capital … The concept is correct and we put Stewart’s work right at the front … to reinforce the importance for companies to continue defining, measuring and improving ways of generating new intellectual capital … Teaching Organizations are the needed response to today’s emphasis on knowledge creation. Today, intellectual assets trump physical assets in nearly every industry.…”

Continue reading “Superslide.” »