Free Republic

When Donald Trump met with technology leaders in December to tell them he wanted them to create jobs in the U.S., their heads probably tilted to the side, as if you tried to explain physics to your dog and she just watched your lips moving and wondered when, among all those unfamiliar sounds, she was going to hear the word treat. Tech leaders aren’t in the business of creating jobs. They’re in business to help us do more with less. They like innovation and disruption and software eating the world. But people—eh, not so much. In his own Chance-the-gardener way,...

No matter what you thought of the U.S. election results, the new incoming Administration will impact the venture capital (VC) and private equity investment marketplace in the U.S. for many players – from founders of U.S. companies and founders of international startups looking to enter the U.S. marketplace to the funds themselves. How might a Trump Administration’s priorities impact venture capital and private equity investments in startups? The short answer, of course, is no one really knows. However, given the election results, the changes will likely be profound. At the transition team level, the transition officials have brought in Peter...

The sex robot industry is thriving, with some academics predicting that humans will be having more sex with robots that with each other by 2050. But while many people find the idea of sex with a mechanical object abhorrent, academics are keen to find out who is most willing to embrace (literally) this new technology. Speaking at the Love and Sex with Robots conference at Goldsmiths, University of London, Jessica M. Szczuka from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany took on the preconceptions of lonely men shacking up with cyber-lovers.

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would enable vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology on all new light-duty vehicles, enabling new crash-avoidance applications that, once fully deployed, could help prevent hundreds of thousands of crashes every year by helping vehicles “talk” to each other. In February 2014, Secretary Foxx announced the DOT would accelerate its work to enable V2V, directing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to begin work on the rulemaking. NHTSA issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in August 2014. The advancement of the V2V rulemaking complements the DOT’s work on automated vehicles. The proposed rule would require automakers...

As 3D printers shrink in size and price and make their way into more homes, they're starting to bring more of the higher-end functions, like the ability to print objects with multiple materials, down to the consumer level. German startup Next Dynamics has now unveiled the NexD1, a multi-color, multi-material 3D printer for the home that can use a conductive resin to create custom electronic circuit boards. Everything from paper sculptures to candies can be printed from devices small enough to fit on the counter at home, but the NexD1 (which the team pronounces like "next-one") does things a little...

Jeff Bezos said a gathering of tech titans Wednesday with President-elect Donald J. Trump had been “very productive,” and that the Amazon.com CEO emphasized to the incoming administration that innovation was key in creating new jobs. Bezos, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Apple’s Tim Cook and other high-flying tech executives attended a meeting at Trump Tower in New York with the president elect and his transition team. It was an encounter with a man who, as a candidate, rubbed many in the technology industry the wrong way with restrictive views on immigration and other social issues. Trump didn’t seem very happy with...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick were named Wednesday to President-elect Donald Trump's newly formed economic advisory board. The announcement was made separately from a meeting of tech leaders with Trump that Musk was attending. Kalanick is out of the country. They join IBM CEO Ginni Rometty as the only tech representatives so far named to Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum. The group will reportedly "be called upon to meet with the president frequently to share their specific experience and knowledge as the president implements his plan to bring back jobs and Make America Great Again." Benjamin...

Twitter was told it was "bounced" from Wednesday's meeting between tech executives and President-elect Donald Trump in retribution for refusing during the campaign to allow an emoji version of the hashtag #CrookedHillary, according to a source close to the situation. Twitter is one of the few major U.S. tech companies not represented at Wednesday afternoon's Trump Tower meeting attended by, among others, Apple's Tim Cook, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg and Tesla's Elon Musk — an omission all the more striking because of Trump's heavy dependence on the Twitter platform. With some 17.3 million followers of his account, the...

People who will commit most crime can be predicted by looking at deprivation and brain health in childrenA fifth of the population is responsible for four fifths of crime, two fifths of obesity, three quarters of fatherless families and for claiming two thirds of benefits. What’s more, scientists say, you can identify this troublesome group at the age of three. A 45-minute test rating children on IQ and self-control, combined with information about deprivation and maltreatment, allowed researchers to predict “with considerable accuracy” which would go on to be the greatest burden on the state. The 38-year study may be...

Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto on Wednesday that people walk around with floppy disks in order to hack and reprogram voter machines. Stein–who is attempting to launch election recount efforts in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to contest Donald Trump’s victory–first explained the indicators that people looked for when a machine is suspected of being tampered with or having an error. “So the indicators that they look for if they want to see a machine error or a foul play or tampering, you look for a couple of indicators,” she said. “So one is close...

To some extent, blue-collar workers gave back to Silicon Valley a bit of the disruption it has long given them Nearly the entire tech industry, with the exception of PayPal founder and venture capitalist Peter Thiel, publicly lined up against Donald Trump and for Hillary Clinton in the recent presidential election. But words are one thing and actions another. And actions taken by the tech industry in the last decades helped seal Trump’s surprise victory. Trump won, in large part, thanks to support by blue-collar voters without college degrees in the Rust Belt, particularly in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan....

Americans feel government doesn’t serve them, their voice isn’t heard. Most solutions focus on the next political battle. While short-term battles are important, we need long-term solutions more profound than better policies, politicians or parties; we need a better political system. Technology has been blamed for our current political environment; for social and economic disruption that led to disaffection, for spreading fake news. Well-designed technology offers the best chance of creating the political system needed: more participatory, responsive, informed democracy. It just hasn’t been built yet. Silicon Valley invested billions designing technology to improve industries; commerce, communications, travel, transportation. Less...

A former McDonald's CEO is laying the blame on the "Fight for $15" movement as for why the company is embracing automation in its restaurants. McDonald's will install self-serve kiosks in its restaurants around the country to replace human cashiers. Let’s start with automation. In 2013, when the Fight for $15 was still in its growth stage, I and others warned that union demands for a much higher minimum wage would force businesses with small profit margins to replace full-service employees with costly investments in self-service alternatives. At the time, labor groups accused business owners of crying wolf. It turns...

The tech industry has banded together in an attempt to reach out to Donald Trump, the president-elect it tried to defeat. Seventeen trade groups sent a letter to Trump Tuesday, asking him to consider principles the industry says will help growth and innovation. The groups pushed for government investment in tech infrastructure, tax reform and modernizing rules and laws, plus made recommendations for agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission and more. They also felt the need to toot their own horn a little. “We are a powerful engine for economic growth and competitive strength, driving over...

THERE is a one in eight chance that the Earth will be hit by a huge solar storm by 2020 which could potentially leave the world without Internet, phone service and many more services that modern-day humans rely on. Researchers have warned that there is roughly a 12 per cent chance that a solar storm could smash into Earth by the end of the decade.(emphasis mine) The powerful event would likely be as huge as the Carrington Event, which occurred on 1859. The solar storm which hit 150 years ago was so powerful that its southern auroras could be seen...

Engineers at the University of Massachusetts are developing microprocessors which mimic biological synapses - the nerve cells which pass messages across the human body. The science fiction-style project is being undertaken by Joshua Yang and Qiangfei Xia, professors of electrical and computer engineering at the US college. Their work focuses heavily on memristors - a computer component which could change science forever, switching the focus from electronics to ionics.

<p>Theranos, the biotech company started by a 19-year-old Stanford dropout, has another hurdle to cross in its whole "we're totally a legit blood-testing company" campaign. This time, it turns out that tens of thousands of blood tests were voided, making them totally invalid. Whoops!</p>

MIT has a new nylon-based artificial muscle-like filament created by researchers that could eventually provide the basis for robots with bulging biceps. The filaments themselves look eerily similar to the ones extruded by the 3D printers used in the opening sequence of HBO’s Westworld, which is why Gizmodo and others are seeing parallels between potential applications of the tech and Westworld‘s lifelike hosts. MIT’s new solution isn’t the first artificial muscle technology developed, but it is simple and low cost, unlike existing offerings. The researchers developing the tech found that specific types of nylon fiber can reproduce some of the...

We haven't really written much about the insane Theranos scandal, though we discussed it on our podcast. The whole story is pretty crazy -- involving a heavily hyped up company that appeared to basically be flat out lying to everyone about what it could do. The company still exists, but barely. The company's founder and CEO, who was plastered across magazine covers and compared frequently to Steve Jobs, has been banned from running a lab for two years, and the company is now facing a $140 million lawsuit from its biggest partner, Walgreens, who claims that Theranos repeatedly lied to...

I for one give him my most open mind and wish him great success in his service to the country," Bezos tweeted, two days after the election. In August, prominent venture capitalist Chris Sacca knocked “Trump's erratic behavior, repeatedly demonstrated ignorance of economics, and reckless statements." Sacca now says he's willing to give Trump a chance. “We in the tech community are open to helping President Elect Trump in any way he needs to help those Americans who need it most,” Sacca wrote in an email to The Hill. “We are hopeful he will immediately reach out to the tech...