ROBOTICS

Alphabet Is Selling Its Terrifying Robots to SoftBank

Mike Murphy | Quartz

“It’s unclear what SoftBank paid for Alphabet’s two robotics companies, but perhaps it sees a future where robots are as commonplace in our lives as smartphones are today. And what better way to start realizing that than by bringing together leading computer processors and robotics hardware?”

POLITICS

It’s Impossible for Google and Facebook to Be Politically Neutral

Vlad Savov | The Verge

“On the surface, neither Facebook nor Google has been politically active in this campaign…But look at the effect of Google and Facebook’s actions and omissions, and you’ll see a distinct political dimension, whether it’s deemed intentional or not.”

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

The Benefits of Building an Artificial Brain

Glenn Zorpette | IEEE Spectrum

“The other, more interesting vision is of machines that have something like human cognition. They will be our intellectual partners in solving some of the great medical, technical, and scientific problems confronting humanity. And their thinking may share some of the fantastic and maddening beauty, unpredictability, irrationality, intuition, obsessiveness, and creative ferment of our own.”

SILICON VALLEY

WWDC 2017: Here’s Everything Apple Announced

Mark Sullivan | Fast Company

“At Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference keynote on Monday, the company unleashed a two-hour storm of announcements, including both new hardware and software feature upgrades…Perhaps the most surprising announcement of the day was Apple’s quick leap into the AR space.”

SOLAR ENERGY

China Just Switched on the World’s Largest Floating Solar Power Plant

Simon Brandon | World Economic Forum

“Today, China invests more each year in wind, hydro and solar power than any other country on earth. This week it further underlined its role as the global leader in renewable energy by switching on the world’s largest floating solar power plant.”