All Blue-Eyed People Have A Single Ancestor In Common

PHOTO: WALLPAPER

New research shows that all blue-eyed people share a common ancestor. This person lived more than 6,000 years ago and carried a genetic mutation that has now spread across the world.

The exact cause remains to be determined, but scientists do know that eye color began to change long before recorded history began. The following is a transcript of the video.

All blue-eyed people have one ancestor in common, born around 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. Blue eyes are caused by a gene mutation. For years, researchers had searched for it on the OCA2 gene. 

The OCA2 gene determines how much brown pigment is in our eyes. But what they were looking for wasn't there at all.

PHOTO: Makeup.com

The mutation was found on an entirely different gene called HERC2. HERC2 turns off OCA2, meaning it turns off the brown and reveals the blue. Every blue-eyed person has this exact same mutation.

How did this mutation get its start? Possibly when humans migrated from Africa to Europe. This would explain why only people of European descent have blue eyes. It would also suggest that all blue-eyed people share a single European ancestor.

Now, that's an impressive family tree!

SOURCE: Tech Insider

Lamborghini’s Latest Huracán Is A Supercar With A Supercomputer

PHOTO: LAMBORGHINI

Over the past few decades, technology has made vehicles safer and easier to drive. 

Anti-lock brakes, traction control, torque vectoring and other bits of tech keep cars on the road instead of flying into a ditch when things get hairy. It's why newer cars typically handle corners better than older cars.

At Lamborghini, they've taken things further with their new Lamborghini Dinamica Veicolo Integrata or LDVI system. 

The Engine Control Unit (ECU) takes data from the entire car and uses it to adjust how the new Huracán EVO Spyder drives in real time (actually in less than 20 milliseconds. 

But that's about as close as you can get to real time). Cars have been doing some form of this for a while but the Italian automaker needs to be able to do this at incredible speeds and in environments your typical sedan or SUV doesn't encounter.

With this technology, Lamborghini is able to take the raw power of an all-wheel-drive supercar with a V10 engine and 630 horsepower and tame it, just enough, so your average driver (who can shell out $287,400) can enjoy themselves behind the wheel of the all-wheel-steering vehicle without, you know, flying into a ditch.

To achieve this, the LVDI is actually a super fast central processing unit that takes in data about the road surface, the car's setup, the tires and how the driver is driving the vehicle. It then uses that info to control various aspects of the Huracan.

The system works in concert with the Lamborghini Piattaforma Inerziale (LPI) version 2.0 hardware sensors. This system uses gyroscopes and accelerometers located at the car's center of gravity. 

It measures the vehicle's movements and shares that data with the LVDI computer.

PHOTO: LAMBORGHINI

Lamborghini says the system is so in tune with all aspects of a drive that it can actually predict the best driving setup for the next moment. 

In other words, if you're behind the wheel flying around corners on a back road, the system will recognize your behavior as you enter a corner and adjust itself.

"Where it's possible to do a bigger jump in the future is with the intelligent use of four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering and the movement and control of the torque wheel by wheel in a way that can be more predictable and that is what we have with the Huracan EVO," said Maurizio Reggiani, chief technology officer of Automobili Lamborghini.

Lamborghini is thinking about a world beyond a completely gas-powered engine though -- it has a pipeline for hybrid and electric vehicles. 

But Reggiani notes that Lamborghini will probably be the last automaker to leave behind a large growling power plant.

PHOTO: LAMBORGHINI

Putting all that power to the ground in a controllable way requires an incredible amount of technology -- that's where LVDI and other pieces of technology come in. 

The automaker believes the result is a driving experience that matches exactly what the driver wants, regardless of the mode the car is in. Whether it be Strada, Sport, or the track ready Corsa, the vehicle (in a controlled way) should deliver.

That control allows a driver to do something that typically takes months if not years to master: drifting. It goes against what the car wants to do -- lose traction. 

But in Sport mode it's possible. To do that, the vehicle has to figure out (in real time and safely) things like what angle it wants to slide. The Huracán EVO Spyder has to understand that you want to drift and not fight that. If it does, it will jerk the car (and driver) back into alignment.

Lamborghini Huracan EVO Spyder

To relive your Fast and Furious dreams, the automaker started where lots of companies start with new technology: In the simulator. But a computer can't faithfully reproduce the real world. 

Mostly that has to do with tires, a variable that's tough to predict because of the density of the rubber's compound and its wear.

Then, of course, there's the driver. We all drive differently but the experience must be the same for everyone. It's important that even with all that technology, it's still a driving experience. 

"We don't want to have something that substitutes the driver. We want to have a car that is able to understand what the driver wants to do," Reggiani said.

Lamborghini is known for large engines, intense growls, striking design and bank-busting prices. But the reality is all that power would be useless if drivers couldn't actually control the car. 

The automaker's latest system makes that possible for everyone. Sure, only a select few can own a Lamborghini, but everyone can appreciate a system that makes driving safer while simultaneously more fun.

SOURCE: ENGADGET

You Can Soon Order Domino's Pizza From Your Car's Touchscreen

PHOTO: DOMINO

Domino's is continuing its quest to let you order pizza through every device imaginable. It's partnering with Xevo on an app that can order pies through your car's infotainment system, no tethered smartphone required. 

You can avoid distractions by placing an Easy Order or repeating your last order, and track your food's progress. 

There's also an option to make an order by phone in case you have a complex request or just prefer human contact.

The technology is expected to come pre-loaded on "millions" of cars sometime later in 2019, although Domino's and Xevo didn't name specific brands or models. Either way, this could be more useful than you might think.

 It's not uncommon to order pizza on the way home to save time -- this makes it simple enough that you could make a purchase in the time it takes to stop at a red light.

Source: Domino's Pizza

Huawei Unveiled The P30 Pro Smartphone A Touch Early

PHOTO: HUAWEI

Huawei might know how to build photo-centric smartphones, but the concept of web pages is apparently beyond its grasp. 

As spotted by Evan Blass, it unveiled an event page for the phone that reveals pretty much everything you'd want to know ahead of its March 26th Paris Event. 

As expected, it'll have a quad camera array -- with the main packing a 40-megapixel sensor -- and 10X hybrid zoom, doubling the P20 Pro's 5X zoom.

There are some interesting new details, too. The P30 Pro (and P30 to a lesser extent) will have improved low-light capability, making them better for night shooting. They'll also pack a so-called dual-view video mode. 

That will show two of the four cameras at the same time in split-screen, letting you see both a close-up and wide-angle view. 

The feature could make it easier to track distant, fast moving subjects, or quickly switch between views like some kind of smartphone-toting television director. 

It's not clear whether you can record in the split format as well, however.

The page also unveiled the Huawei Watch GT Active edition, which will be offered for free to P30 Pro buyers at Huawei's Singapore event. It'll likely be a more sporty version of Huawei's Watch GT, which is powered (unfortuantely) by Huawei's own operating system, not Google's Wear OS. 

The P30 phones will be unveiled on Tuesday, March 26th in Paris, and Engadget will be there to cover the event -- the devices might be difficult to find in the US, however.

Source: Huawei (internet archive)

BMW’s Future EVs Could Outlast The Competition By 200 Miles

PHOTO: BMW

BMW has said that it wants to build all variants of its cars (hybrid, gas, electric) on the same production lines. So, a 3 Series with an internal combustion engine (ICE) will be built right beside one with a battery pack. 

It relies on the automaker being nimble and that means major changes to how BMW's EVs are built.

The powertrain will have the motor, single-speed transmission and controller all in one. It'll first appear in the totally electric iX3 which is scheduled to land in 2020. 

BMW says it'll allow the automaker to make adjustments on the fly and "to react quickly to whatever demand is out there," according to Jan Freimann, BMW manager of Connected eMobility.

"Everything is together in this highly integrated, compact module," Freimann said. The idea is that it'll be easy to place this into any vehicle in the future. 
It's compact enough to fit into a Mini (BMW is the parent company of Mini) but robust enough to power an SUV, Plus, it's completely built in-house by BMW so the automaker can make adjustments quickly to upgrade the system as the need arises.

What's interesting is that the motor housed in the unit will create electricity without rare-earth materials or magnets. 

Your typical electric motor uses magnets, BMW is going without. "it's a synchronous machine and you use (the) winding of copper to induce a current. That becomes the magnet," Freimann said.

BMW's is using the technology as partly a cost-cutting measure. "Rare earth magnets are expensive and there are issues around them. So the price fluctuates and [you] might as well create your own tech," Freimann said. 
Basically, batteries are still expensive, so if the automaker can reduce the cost of its vehicles elsewhere to bring EVs closer to pricing parity with ICE vehicles, that's good news for consumers. Plus, it allows BMW not to be dependent on third parties for the material.

But it'll take a more than an all-in-one-motor to win over potential customers. Charging as quickly as possible is becoming the one feature that customers are most interested in. 

After decades of filling up their cars with gasoline in only a few minutes, for many, it's a hard sell that they have to wait, sometimes hours, to recharge their vehicle. On that front, the automaker says its upcoming EVs will support charging up to 150kW.

That level of output could result in 15 and 20 minute recharges. Not as quick as a refuel, but a short enough period you could kill the time while you browse the mini-mart to buy some refreshments. 

Other automakers, like Audi, are also offering this sort of speed (155kW to be exact) while Tesla is the current leader, with its updated V3 Superchargers (with output up to 200kW).

BMW 5th Generation Powertrain

The batteries themselves will have a potential range of 420 miles (about 200 miles more than what others currently offer) Plus, BMW says that it'll be able to adjust the chemistry of its battery packs to fit the performance of a vehicle. 

A sports sedan would be tuned to give drivers the thrill of EV torque while a crossover might be tweaked to favor range over speed.

All of the EV tech that's going into these future cars is what BMW learned from its Formula E team. In fact, the folks working on the powertrain for the electric BMWs are the same people that built the electron-powered race car.

So while it seems like BMW hasn't done much EV-wise since the i8 and i3, the reality is the company is working towards building the internal infrastructure to make sure it can keep up with demand. 

Right now the automaker is working towards keeping its promise to customers as the "Ultimate Driving Machine" except with an electrified twist.

SOURCE: ENDGADGET

Saudi Capital To Get World’s biggest Park In $23bn Project

Photo: ARAB NEWS

- The project will see 7.5m trees planted and the creation of the world's biggest park

- There will be 70,000 jobs created across the four major projects

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia launched an ambitious $23 billion project on Tuesday (19 March) to create vast open green areas in the capital, Riyadh, including the world’s biggest city park.

Construction will begin this year on four schemes — King Salman Park, Sports Boulevard, Green Riyadh and Riyadh Art — which will create sustainable communities, drive action against climate change and provide up to 70,000 new jobs.

The aim of the project is to “significantly improve the lives of its citizens, transform the city into an attractive destination and make it one of the world’s most livable cities,” the government said.

The four projects - King Salman Park, Sports Boulevard, Green Riyadh and Riyadh Art – will complement the Saudi Vision 2030’s “Quality of Life” Program and are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, to create sustainable cities and communities, while driving urgent action against climate change.

Developed with a government investment of $23 billion, the four projects will offer opportunities worth $15bn for the private sector to invest in residential, commercial, recreational and wellness projects.

As well as creating tens of thousands of new jobs, the project will also help boost efforts to improve the city’s health and wellbeing with a commitment to wellness, health, sports, culture and the arts, underpinned by a commitment to environmental sustainability.

The project will transform the environment and make Riyadh a more sustainable city, Dr. Fatma Alaish, assistant professor of ecology and environmental pollution at Jeddah University’s biology/botany department, told Arab News.

“Planting cities reduces air pollution as plants undergo photosynthesis and absorb carbon dioxide gas,” she said.

“This will decrease the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, a poisonous gas that negatively affects air quality, mixed with dangerous car emissions, and heavily contributes to global warming.  With more planted green areas, there will be less pollution. 

SOURCE: ARAB NEWS

“The more you plant, the better the weather, the cleaner the air and the more sustainable life will be in cities.”

Measuring 13.4 square kilometers, King Salman Park will be the world’s biggest park, with residential areas, hotels, and will also feature a Royal Arts Complex, theaters, museums, cinemas, sports venues, water features, restaurants and an 18-hole Royal Golf Course.

The park will also boast several landmark assets, including the Riyadh Fountains and a Vertical Garden. As an environmentally sustainable urban development, it will offer opportunities for the international community in arts, entertainment and culture.

One of the world’s largest urban greening projects, Green Riyadh will increase Riyadh’s green cover with 7.5 million trees.

SOURCE: ARAB NEWS

The massive planting project will help increase the city’s green cover from 1.5 percent of Riyadh’s total area to 9.1 percent – that is approximately 541 square kilometers by 2030.

Salem Alghamdi, a professor at the College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, said the projects would make Riyadh “one of the greatest capital cities in the Middle East.”

“I believe now in Riyadh we are really having a new city,” he said, “with the Riyadh metro, the Qiddiya project and now this Green Riyadh project, these will add even more value.”

Green space availability will increase to 28 square meters per capita from the current 1.7 square meters per capita, compared to the World Health Organization’s recommendation of 9 square meters per capita.

Green Riyadh will help reduce average ambient temperature by 2C, and will use more than 1 million cubic meters of treated sewage daily for irrigation, for the sustainability of water resources in the city.

Sports Boulevard  - a health and wellness destination in the heart of the city- will feature a 135 kilometer-long professional cycling track covering the city and the surrounding valleys, the first of its kind in the region.

Adding 3.5 million square meters of new open space across the city, this grand project will also feature a sports pavilion, riding stables and athletics tracks.

Riyadh Art will be the world’s largest government investment in public art and will establish the city as “a gallery without walls” through a world-class interactive public arts program.

With 1,000 artworks curated through 10 separate programs and an annual arts festival, this project will feature large-scale art works with the aim of drawing art lovers and creators from around the world.

Construction work is due to start in the second half of 2019.

SOURCE: ARAB NEWS

Arcimoto's Latest Three-Wheeled EV Is Designed For Deliveries

Source: Arcimoto

You might remember Arcimoto as the company behind the "Fun Utility Vehicle" (FUV) -- a three-wheeled, electric vehicle that's scheduled to hit the streets in Oregon, California and Washington this summer. 

With the FUV underway, Arcimoto has opened presales for a similar vehicle with a new concept. 

Called the "Deliverator," it's a three-wheel, pure electric vehicle meant for local deliveries.

Like Arcimoto's FUV, the Deliverator is something between a car and a motorcycle. It will get around 100 city miles per charge, and it will top out at 75 mph -- just like the FUV.

 And it will start at $19,900, which you might have guessed, is the cost of the first edition FUV.

But, the Deliverator will also have a 350-pound carrying capacity and more than 20 cubic feet of cargo space, which can be customized to carry anything from parcels to pizza, groceries, pharmaceuticals and dry cleaning. 

The company hopes it will be an efficient alternative to delivery vans and trucks that's easier to maneuver around cities.

This is Arcimoto's third electric vehicle. It has another (again, very similar) model developed for emergency responders. 

That makes the Deliverator seem more like Arcimoto trying to get as many uses out of one concept than something totally novel, but if it's a green way to get your pizza faster, it can't be all bad. 

While Arcimoto has opened pre-orders, production won't start until 2020, so it will be a while before we see these guys out on the streets.

Source: Arcimoto/ ENDGADGET

Waymo Is Building A New Service Center For Its Self-Driving Fleet

PHOTO: WAYMO

Waymo announced plans to open a new technical service center in Mesa, Arizona. There, it will service and maintain its Waymo One cars -- the vehicles that make up its self-driving car service. 

Waymo launched the on-demand, autonomous rides (with human backup) in December. And, by the looks of this expansion, things are going well for the company.

The location is no surprise. Waymo opened its first branch in Chandler, Arizona in 2016. The Alphabet-owned company appears to like driving in the sunny Phoenix area, which has "broad, yet complex, city streets" and a car-dependent suburban population. 

Eventually, the company will use the new, 85,000-square-foot facility to hire hundreds of employees, too.

In the first few months of this year, Waymo has been busy. Since December, customers in the metro Phoenix area have been able to use the autonomous Waymo One much like they would a ridesharing service. 

In January, Waymo received approval for a factory in Michigan, which will be the world's first factory dedicated to mass-producing Level 4 autonomous vehicles. 

Waymo is reportedly in talks with the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance on self-driving taxis. 

For people who may be nervous about the safety of autonomous cars, Waymo has been making strides there, too. 

According to the California DMV, the rate of human intervention required in Waymo's cars fell in 2018.

SOURCE: Waymo

Grab Malaysia To Charge RM3 to RM5 Cancellation Fee, Effective March 25

PHOTO: The Straits Times

Grab Malaysia will start charging a fee on passengers who cancel or who are late to their ride after a certain allowed amount of time starting from March 25. 

In an updated Passenger Cancellation Policy, Grab says passengers who cancel their rides five minutes after getting a driver, will be charged a fee ranging from RM3 to RM5. The exact amount depends on the type of vehicle or service that the passenger has ordered. 

For services like GrabCar, GrabTax (metered or executive) and JustGrab for Airport, the cancellation fee is RM3. For a six-seater GrabCar or 10-seater JustGrab, it’s RM4. While for services like GrabCar Premium or GrabCar Luxe where a passenger orders a Vellfire for the airport, it’s RM5. 

Grab says it will also be charging passengers an RM5 fee when a driver cancels a ride after waiting at a pick-up point for more than five minutes.  

For GrabShare rides, passengers have three minutes to arrive at the pick-up point before the driver is entitled to cancel the ride. 

For each booking, passengers may be charged between RM3 to RM5 for late cancellation or charged RM5 after the driver cancels the ride for waiting more than five minutes. The company says it will not charge both fees at the same time. 

Passengers will not be charged if they cancel within five minutes of getting a driver. Drivers are also required to wait for five minutes or three minutes if they are performing GrabShare services before they are entitled to charge a cancellation fee. 

The company says that the cancellation fee will be waived if a driver does not arrive within 10 minutes after the first-shown estimated time of arrival. An example of this situation is when a passenger is allocated a driver who is three minutes away. But when the passenger has waited for more than 13 minutes, the cancellation fee will be waived. 

In an event where a passenger wants to cancel after waiting for too long, Grab encourages the customer to contact the driver via call or GrabChat.  

The company assures that it has measures in place to detect if a driver is not moving towards the customer. 

For passengers who are on GrabPay, the cancellation fee will be deducted directly from GrabPay credits balance or credit/debit card. The fee will be added automatically to the next ride fare for passengers who are paying by cash. 

The company promises that 100% of the cancellation fee will be allocated towards the driver as compensation for his or her time on the road.  

Grab also says that it expects the new cancellation fee policy to affect less than 1% of bookings as most passengers don’t cancel after booking.

SOURCE: THE STAR ONLINE

Netflix Won’t Be Part of Apple’s Upcoming Video Streaming Service

Photo: Netflix

Netflix  CEO Reed Hastings said during a Los Angeles press event tonight that it will not be part of the streaming video service Apple is expected to unveil next week at its Cupertino headquarters.

While it will have original content, Apple’s  service will most likely initially focus on third-party content, competing against Amazon Channels with la carte subscriptions to third-party channels (Amazon’s lineup includes HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Starz, but not Netflix, which prefers to control its own in-app experience).

Asked how Netflix will compete against rivals with a lot of money like Amazon and Apple, Hastings said “with difficulty,” adding that “it is definitely getting more expensive to source content” as the streaming video market becomes increasingly fragmented.

As the largest video streaming service in the United States, however, Netflix has been the subject of antitrust lawsuits and debates. 

When asked about potential antitrust regulations aimed at large tech companies, Hastings describe Netflix as “really mostly a content company powered by tech,” saying it spends much more on content than tech (Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos said last year that 85 percent of its total spending goes to new shows and movies, and in October the company announced plans to raise $2 billion in debt to fund new content).

Despite its focus on international growth, Hastings also said that even though Netflix once considered entering China by creating a joint venture with a local partner, it currently has no plans to do so, noting that the strategy still didn’t help competitors such as Apple’s iTunes.

SOURCE/ Image Credits: TechCrunch

Intel Will Build The First Exascale Supercomputer In The US

PHOTO: INTEL

The US might currently have the world's most powerful supercomputer, but it isn't resting on its laurels. 

An international race is on to build exascale supercomputers (systems capable of a quintillion calculations per second) and today, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry announced Intel and sub-contractor Cray Computing will construct the first such system in the US. 

The supercomputer will be called Aurora, and Intel is aiming to deliver it to the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory in the Chicago area in 2021.

"Achieving exascale is imperative, not only to better the scientific community, but also to better the lives of everyday Americans," said Sec. Perry. 

"Aurora and the next generation of exascale supercomputers will apply [high-performance computing] and AI technologies to areas such as cancer research, climate modeling and veterans' health treatments."

Research planned for the $500 million+ Aurora project includes suicide prevention (by analyzing risk factors) and improving the ability to "predict climate at a regional scale," according to Rick Stevens, associate laboratory director for computing, environment and life sciences at Argonne. 

Researchers also hope to discover materials that will help in the construction of more efficient solar cells and develop "extreme-scale cosmological simulations."

The teams behind the project are not ready to share specific technical specs (including the supercomputer's estimated power consumption). 

However, Aurora will use an upcoming Intel Xeon Scalable processor, Intel Optane DC memory, the X compute architecture and Intel's ONE API.

 Cray will also contribute its Shasta supercomputer system, which includes more than 200 cabinets and the Slingshot interconnect.

Back in 2011, Intel had high hopes of making exascale computing viable by 2018, but that of course didn't quite happen. 

As MIT Technology Review puts it, "Every person on Earth would have to do a calculation every second of every day for just over four years to match what an exascale machine will be able to do in a flash."

In June, the US snatched back the most powerful supercomputer crown from China, which is one of the exascale computing frontrunners. 

The nation announced last year it had prototyped exascale supercomputers, and the National Supercomputing Center expects to build such a system "in the second half of 2020 or the first half of 2021.

" Japan hopes it will have an exascale supercomputer up and running in 2021, while Europe is planning to have exascale "performance systems based on EU technology by 2022-2023."

SOURCE: ENDGADGET

Fisker Plans To Release An Electric SUV Under $40,000 In 2021

PHOTO: FISKER

Tesla isn't the only one unveiling a semi-affordable electric SUV in March. Fisker is signaling a shift toward more reasonably-priced EVs by unveiling a sub-$40,000 SUV that might claim a few advantages over its superiors. 

The automaker is aiming for a 300-mile range as standard through an 80kWh-plus battery (the Model Y will start at 230 miles), radar where the grill would be, and an "extended open-air atmosphere" available with a button press. 

You might not be in a rush to spend extra, then, although dual motors and all-wheel drive will be optional.

There's one main issue: you'll have to wait. Fisker doesn't expect a drivable prototype until sometime before the end of 2019, and a production model won't be ready until the second half of 2021. 

That's around the same time that Tesla plans to deliver its sub-$40K Model Y, but roughly a year after higher-priced variants. It's also uncertain just how readily available the SUV will be at that point, although Fisker plans to build its SUV in the US and will sell directly to customers instead of going through dealerships.

However it arrives, the SUV is part of a big bet for Fisker. It's planning two additional "affordable" electric vehicles beyond this model -- this isn't a one-off so much as it is a transition away from Fisker's reputation as a niche luxury brand for the eco-conscious. 

It sees the market for EVs exploding in the near future, and it wants to get in while the market is relatively young.

Source: Fisker

Australia OK’s US$200 Million Huawei Pact

PHOTO: HUAWEI

The Western Australian government has decided to go ahead with its US$200 million contract with Huawei to build a new digital radio system for Perth’s trains, ABC reported.

Huawei was awarded the contract by the Australian Public Transport Authority in July last year as part of a joint venture with UGL. One month later, Canberra announced a ban on Huawei for 5G projects in Australia.

“The Huawei and UGL representatives confirmed they would be able to source equipment required for the project. Further confirmation was subsequently received by the PTA,” Saffioti was quoted as saying in the report.

The allegations by the United States Justice Department in January prompted greater scrutiny of how the Chinese tech giant does business and intensified a trade dispute between the US and China.

Saffioti noted the government will continue to monitor this contract with the involvement of other key state agencies.

SOURCE: ASIA TIMES

This Robot Could Be Conducting Your Next Job Interview

Photo: World Economic Forum

You’re Hired

The next time you interview for a job, the recruiter you need to impress might not be human.

Since October, Swedish recruitment agency TNG has been using an artificially intelligent robot head called Tengai to conduct test interviews in place of a human recruiter. 

Starting in May, the device will begin interviewing candidates for actual jobs with the goal of eliminating the biases human recruiters bring to the hiring process — an encouraging example of an AI eliminating discrimination rather than amplifying it.


Perfect Tengai

Tengai is the work of Furhat Robotics, a conversational AI and social robotics startup. Furhat designed the robot head to be placed on a table where it rests at about eye level with a job candidate. 

It then asks the person a series of questions, with its voice and face designed to mimic human inflections and expressions.

Unlike a human recruiter — who might develop unconscious biases about a candidate based on anything from their gender and ethnicity to how they answer informal chit chat before the interview — Tengai will ask every question in the same order and the same way.

It then provides a human recruiter with a transcript of the candidate’s answers so that they can make a decision about whether or not to move forward with that person.

Eventually, Furhat hopes to program the robot to make its own decisions on which applicants should proceed to the next round of interviews. It already has an English-language version of the bot in development, with plans to roll that out in early 2020.

Robotic Delivery

According to a recent TNG survey, 73 percent of job seekers in Sweden believe they’ve been discriminated against during the job application process. 

By replacing the human recruiter with Tengai, TNG and Furhat believe they can make the screening process more fair while still providing a “human” touch.

“I was quite sceptical at first before meeting Tengai, but after the meeting I was absolutely struck,” healthcare recruiter Petra Elisson, who has been involved in the testing, told the BBC. 

“At first I really, really felt it was a robot, but when going more deeply into the interview I totally forgot that she’s not human.”

SOURCE: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM

GM Is Doubling The Staff For Its Self-Driving Car Business

PHOTO: AP

General Motors is ramping up its autonomous vehicle business. According to Reuters, the company is planning to hire 1,000 people over the next nine months to work on Cruise, a GM subsidiary that develops self-driving car technology. 

The hiring spree would double the amount of staff currently under the Cruise umbrella and would mark a major investment in autonomous efforts.

GM hasn't specified exactly how all the hiring will break down, but the company reportedly plans to use the majority of those new job openings to attract engineers. 

The hiring spree may be in response to the company's recent struggles. As of last year, reports indicated Cruise was behind schedule, missing mileage targets and milestones. 

The company's tech has also had some nagging issues, including an inability to reliably recognize pedestrians and a habit of stopping for bicyclists who aren't actually there. 

Overhauling the engineering team appears to be an attempt to get Cruise back on track.

Despite troubles getting up to speed, GM has some lofty ambitions for Cruise and wants to get a self-driving taxi service up and running before the end of the year. 

The company has already partnered up with Lyft to offer rides from its autonomous fleet and just recently Cruise announced plans with DoorDash to make deliveries with self-driving cars.

Source: Reuters

Japan's Moon Rover Will Be Made By Toyota

Screenshot: JAXA/ TOYOTA

Toyota is going to the moon. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has teamed up with the carmaker to build a pressurized self-driving rover that will land on the lunar surface in 2029. 

The six-wheeled transporter will be able to carry two humans for a distance of 10,000 kilometers using solar power and Toyota's fuel cell technology. 

The rover will be about the size of two minibuses, with 13 square meters of habitable space, and the astronauts on board will be able to take their suits off inside the vehicle as they explore. 

It will land on the moon before the human expedition arrives, and travel independently to meet them.


The announcement comes at an active time in space exploration. Less than a week ago SpaceX docked a craft at the International Space Station, while China is ramping up its own space ambitions, recently achieving a world-first by landing on the far side of the moon, and revealing plans for a solar power station in space. 

What's particularly exciting about the JAXA/Toyota announcement, however, is that it aims to provide a lot of freedom for the astronauts on board the vehicle, so this kind of pressurized technology brings the once-futuristic idea of living on the moon ever closer.

SOURCE: ENDGADGET/ JAXA

Malaysia To Review Boeing 737 Max Orders After Second Crash

PHOTO: Aviation International News

Singapore, China and Indonesia ground jet, as US says plane is safe to fly

The Malaysian government will reconsider the purchase of Boeing's 737 Max 8 aircraft for the country's flagship carrier Malaysia Airlines, after the second fatal crash in less than five months of the U.S. company's new passenger jet.

Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali said on Monday that Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah -- which owns Malaysia Airlines -- would have to "revisit" the agreement to buy 25 of Boeing's 737 Max aircraft after the crash on Sunday of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 soon after takeoff, killing all 157 on board. 

"The management of Khazanah should look into the matter urgently. This is to ensure the safety of the airline, which is paramount," he said.

Other Asian airlines told Nikkei Asian Review they were also reviewing the situation.

Meanwhile, Singapore on Tuesday became the latest country to ground the 737 Max aircraft. The suspension will affect SilkAir, Singapore Airlines' subsidiary, as well as China Southern Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Shandong Airlines and Thai Lion Air that fly the aircraft to Singapore. 

The move followed similar orders from regulators in Indonesia, China, Mongolia and Ethiopia to suspend flights of the 737 Max 8.

The decisions have been prompted by similarities to the crash last October of a 737 Max 8 operated by Lion Air, which killed all 189 passengers and crew on board.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued a notification on Monday to operators of the Boeing 737 Max, assuring them that the plane was safe to fly. It said it continued it collect information about the crash, as well as on the Lion Air incident, though it stressed it was too early to draw any conclusions.

Nevertheless the FAA has demanded that "design changes" to the 737 Max be implemented by April. Boeing said it was working closely with the U.S. regulator and it would implement a required "flight control software enhancement" for the 737 MAX in the "coming weeks." 

The decisions by international regulators to ground the planes raise questions over the future for Boeing's single-aisle 737 Max jet in Asia, and in China in particular, the world's fastest-growing aviation market.

"Given that two crashes both involved newly delivered Boeing 738-8 planes and this happened shortly after take off, they have some degree of similarity," the Civil Aviation Administration of China said in a statement. Indonesia's director general of air transportation Polana Pramesti said the measures were to "ensure that the condition of the aircraft is airworthy."

Boeing's stock price plunged 12% at one point Monday denting the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 345 points on its own. The company's stocks closed 5.3% lower at $400.

Analysts say the grounding of 737 Max 8 aircraft has cast a shadow over Boeing's position in China, which is on the course to surpass the U.S. to become the world's biggest aviation market by 2022.

"The action taken by CAAC just underlines how severe the situation is for Boeing," said Michel Brekelmans, managing director at consulting company SCP/Asia.

"People are clearly very worried. If there is no confidence, regulators will be on the side of 'better be safe than sorry'," Brekelmans said. "Authorities would say now we have had two incidents. ... As we haven't been given all the answers, we had better take cautious measures. I would not be surprised if others would take the same step."

Malaysia's decision to review its order for the 737 Max is also the first indication that the region's carriers are reconsidering their commitment to the new jet, the latest variant of an aircraft long considered an important workhorse for Asian airlines.

Some analysts voiced concern that others could follow. "If more airlines decide to defer or cancel their aircraft deliveries, the Asian airline industry's future growth plans will need to be scaled back," said Corrine Png, Regional Head of Equities Research at AIA Investment Management. "This impact will be most significantly felt on domestic and regional routes."

Asia's 4.46 billion strong population and rising economic status has driven explosive growth in the number of air travelers. In 2016, roughly 1.8 billion passengers traveled by air in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the International Air Transport Association. That figure is expected to nearly double to 3.1 billion by 2035.

The rise in air travel has also fueled strong demand for aircraft such as the 737 Max. Asia accounts for roughly a third of the 378 Max aircraft in service, with China operating some 25% of the jets currently in the air, according to aviation consultancy Capa. Overall, Asian airlines represent more than a quarter of the total 5,526 orders for the Max 8 and 9, listed at $122 million and $129 million, respectively.

China Southern is the country's No.1 operator of this model, followed by Air China, Hainan Airlines and Shanghai Airlines.

Many more Chinese airlines are waiting for the aircraft to be delivered. But the recent incidents and CAAC's decision have prompted some to review their positions.

Kunming-based Ruili Airlines told Nikkei Asian Review that it was "in the process of re-evaluating our order with Boeing." The carrier has ordered 37 Boeing 737 Max aircraft since 2017, but has taken no deliveries so far.

Taiwan's Far Eastern Air Transport also appears to have adjusted the position it took after the Lion Air crash, when the company insisted it was not reconsidering plans to introduce the Boeing 737 Max by the end of 2019.

Lu Chi-jun, spokesperson and vice president, told the Nikkei Asian Review on Monday that Far Eastern Air Transport had not yet finalized the deal with Boeing. It would only be signed after Boeing clarified the causes of the accidents involving the 737 Max 8, she said.

"We haven't inked the contract with Boeing," Lu said. "We are waiting for Boeing's latest reviews and probe results of the two accidents, and we will only continue with the deal after these review results are clear enough."

Elsewhere in Asia, other airlines have decided to wait and see.

Japan's ANA said that the accidents have not led to a review of its order, as the cause of the accident is still being investigated. The company has purchased 20 737 Max 8 planes so far and is considering the purchase of 10 more.

SOURCE: NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW

SINGAPORE TEMPORARILY SUSPENDS BOEING 737 MAX AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS

PHOTO: BOEING

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has temporarily suspended the operation of all variants of the Boeing 737 MAX flying into and out of Singapore in light of the two fatal accidents involving the aircraft in less than five months.   

The suspension is effective 2 pm today, it said in a statement.

SilkAir, which operates six Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, will be affected by the temporary suspension, CAAS said.

Other airlines currently operating using the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to Singapore are China Southern Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Shandong Airlines and Thai Lion Air.

CAAS said it is working with the Changi Airport Group and the affected airlines to minimise any impact on travelling passengers.

The authority said it was in regular contact with SilkAir on its MAX operations since last year, and was satisfied that it had been taking appropriate measures to comply with the necessary safety requirements.

SOURCE: AFP

During the temporary suspension, CAAS said it would gather more information and review the risk associated with the continued operation of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft into and out of Singapore.

CAAS is also in close communication with the United States Federal Aviation Administration and other aviation regulators, as well as Boeing.

The suspension will be reviewed as and when the relevant safety information becomes available, it said.

SOURCE: BERNAMA