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Archive for the ‘Elon Musk’ category: Page 203

Jan 4, 2019

The 2018 Good Tech Awards

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, government, robotics/AI, transportation

It’s true that this was a horrible year for many of the tech industry’s biggest companies. Amazon held a nationwide beauty pageant for its new headquarters, raising hopes that the company would help transform a struggling city, then picked the two places that needed it the least. Executives from Facebook, Google and Twitter got hauled before Congress to apologize for * gestures wildly in all directions*. One of Uber’s self-driving cars killed someone. And then there was Elon Musk.

But the tech sector is more than its giants.

Last year, I handed out “good tech” awards to a handful of companies, nonprofit organizations and people who used technology to help others in real, tangible ways. The goal was to shine a spotlight on a few less-heralded projects that may not get front-page headlines or billions of dollars in funding, but are actually trying to fulfill the tech industry’s stated goal of improving the world.

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Jan 1, 2019

What the SpaceX Mirror Polished Stainless Steel Starship Will Look Like

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

William Falconer-Beach has rendered some images of the SpaceX Starship with a mirror polished stainless steel body.

Elon Musk has reported that SpaceX is building the body of the Starship out of stainless steel and that it will be polished to a mirror finish.

A hopper version of the Starship should have its first test flights by April 2019. The Super Heavy should reach orbit in 2020.

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Jan 1, 2019

Mark Zuckerberg-Funded Researchers Test Implantable Brain Devices

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, Elon Musk, mobile phones, neuroscience

Mark Zuckerberg and his pediatrician wife Priscilla Chan have sold close to 30 million shares of Facebook to fund an ambitious biomedical research project, called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), with a goal of curing all disease within a generation. A less publicized component of that US$5 billion program includes work on brain-machine interfaces, devices that essentially translate thoughts into commands.

From a report: One recent project is a wireless brain implant that can record, stimulate and disrupt the movement of a monkey in real time. In a paper published in the highly cited scientific journal Nature on Monday, researchers detail a wireless brain device implanted in a primate that records, stimulates, and modifies its brain activity in real time, sensing a normal movement and stopping it immediately. Those researchers are part of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a non-profit medical research group within the CZI. Scientists refer to the interference as “therapy” because it is designed to be used to treat diseases like epilepsy or Parkinson’s by stopping a seizure or other disruptive motion just as it starts.

“Our device is able to monitor the primate’s brain while it’s providing the therapy so you know exactly what’s happening,” Rikky Muller, a co-author of the new study, told Business Insider. A professor of computer science and engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, Muller is also a Biohub investigator. The applications of brain-machine interfaces are far-reaching: while some researchers focus on using them to help assist people with spinal cord injuries or other illnesses that affect movement, others aim to see them transform how everyone interacts with laptops and smartphones. Both a division at Facebook formerly called Building 8 as well as an Elon Musk-founded company called Neuralink have said they are working on the latter.

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Dec 31, 2018

Tesla Model 3 Build Video Shows Why Elon Musk Thinks Humans Are Underrated

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, sustainability, transportation

They play a key role in the process.

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Dec 30, 2018

Elon Musk wants testers for Tesla’s long-awaited ‘full self-driving’ A.I. chip

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, robotics/AI, transportation

In 2019, will Tesla become the world’s first automaker with a fully autonomous fleet on the road?


The Tesla CEO said the Hardware 3 upgrade has.

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Dec 29, 2018

Neil deGrasse Tyson: Elon Musk “Will Transform Civilization As We Know It”

Posted by in category: Elon Musk

The eccentric SpaceX CEO gets some flak — but not from Neil deGrasse Tyson.

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Dec 24, 2018

Elon Musk shows off stainless steel ‘Starship’

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

It was just last month that Elon Musk took to Twitter to unceremoniously announce that he was changing the name of the crew module and rocket booster of SpaceX’s BFR rocket program to “Starship” and “Super Heavy,” respectively. Now, in another spontaneous update from Musk via Twitter, we’re getting our first good look at the Starship section in all its stainless steel glory.

In the early morning hours, Musk tweeted out an image of the top section of the spacecraft with the simple caption “Stainless Steel Starship,” before following up with a few additional details about the progress of the program.

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Dec 23, 2018

SpaceX is building a ‘test hopper’ Mars spaceship in Texas — and Elon Musk says it could launch

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

Elon Musk said SpaceX is building a “test hopper” spaceship in Texas that could launch by March or April. The vehicle may help the company reach Mars.

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Dec 19, 2018

Elon Musk unveils his test car tunnel as a fix for traffic in Los Angeles

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, sustainability, transportation

The Loop system from his adjacent Boring Company startup, once up and running, would take vehicles underground on an elevator and then send them zipping along a track to their destination.

An earlier concept of public-transportation-like “skates” based on Tesla chassis was abandoned, apparently, in favor of regular Teslas with the enhanced wheels. Those who tried the tunnel described a very bumpy ride at less than optimum speeds.

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Dec 16, 2018

Elon Musk plans for Tesla to make supersonic electric planes

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, sustainability, transportation

Elon Musk said that he would like for Tesla, the electric car maker, to be able to produce a supersonic plane.

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