Adidas Wilson's Blog, page 66
October 15, 2017
October 13, 2017
Dubai police will ride hoverbikes straight out of ‘Star Wars’
Dubai is aggressively turning itself into a “Future City,” putting self-flying taxis in the skies and a facial recognition system in its airport. The Dubai police department’s latest ride is now adding another sci-fi transportation staple: the hoverbike.
The Dubai police, which already has luxury patrol cars, self-driving pursuit drones, and a robot officer, just announced it will soon have officers buzzing around on hoverbikes, which look like an early version of the speeder bikes used by the scout troopers on Endor in Return of the Jedi.
The force (see what I did there?) unveiled its new Hoversurf Scorpion craft at the Gitex Technology Week conference, according to UAE English language publication Gulf News. The police force will use the hoverbike for emergency response scenarios, giving officers the ability to zoom over congested traffic conditions by taking to the air.
The Russian-made craft is fully electric and can handle loads of up to 600 pounds, offering about 25 minutes of use per charge with a top speed of about 43 mph. The Scorpion can also fly autonomously for almost four miles at a time for other emergencies.
Source:
http://mashable.com/2017/10/13/dubai-police-hoverbike/?utm_cid=hp-h-2#7M6S6BrfakqT
Channing Tatum’s Gambit Movie Finally Has A New Release Date
It would seem that the X-Men franchise’s Gambit movie is finally coming together. Late last week brought the news that Gore Verbinski has been in discussions about directing the feature, and now 20th Century Fox is confident enough to lock the comic book feature in for a February 14, 2019 release date.
When I spoke with producer Simon Kinberg earlier this year just prior to the theatrical release of Logan, he told me that star Channing Tatum was still “incredibly committed” to Gambit and that production was eyeing an early 2018 start. It looks like that will be exactly what happens in the future development of the project, given the release date news that was just dropped by Deadline.
The hitch that comes with this news is that we’re not entirely sure we can trust it. After all, this isn’t the first time that Gambit has had a release date, as it was originally supposed to come out on October 7, 2016. This target was ultimately missed because the film had the hardest time trying to keep a director on board. First Bennett Miller, Darren Aronofsky, Gareth Evans and J. C. Chandor all turned down the chance to helm. Then Rupert Wyatt officially signed on (in June 2015), but he wound up departing a few months later (September 2015). Doug Liman came aboard to replace him weeks after that (November 2015), but then he left the next summer (August 2016). The project has existed in limbo ever since.
To Gambit‘s credit, things do seem to finally be coming together. Gore Verbinski is a seasoned blockbuster filmmaker, and, according to Channing Tatum, the studio’s development strategy has significantly changed thanks to the successes of Deadpool and Logan (implying the movie could be R-rated). There is a story to tell, with a narrative reportedly charting the mutant’s origins in New Orleans, and history with the villainous Mister Sinister, so it might actually all work out.
As for the release date itself, it’s noteworthy that Fox has had some luck with Valentines Day. The studio made the interesting choice to also make that the launching weekend for Deadpool last year, and while the film did face some apparent competition in Zoolander 2, it wound up becoming one of the biggest R-rated blockbusters of all time. Surely Fox is hoping that Gambit can follow suit in 2019, with the only current competition being the comedy Isn’t It Romantic starring Rebel Wilson.
Source:
https://www.cinemablend.com/news/1713469/channing-tatums-gambit-movie-finally-has-a-new-release-date
Steve Wozniak announces tech education platform Woz U
Steve Wozniak, one of Apple’s three original founders, has launched a new training initiative designed to get people ready for “high-paying technology” jobs.
The Woz U digital institute is initially launching as an online-only affair and promises to deliver a “new approach” to education for tech industry jobs. For now, the curriculum focuses on training for computer support specialists and software developers (.Net, JavaScript, Ruby, Java, and Python), but it will later expand into other facets of the STEM realm, including cybersecurity, mobile apps, and data science.
“Our goal is to educate and train people in employable digital skills without putting them into years of debt,” explained Wozniak in a press release. “People often are afraid to choose a technology-based career because they think they can’t do it. I know they can, and I want to show them how.”
Woz U may be confined to the online world for now, but plans are afoot to open brick-and-mortar campuses in more than 30 cities across the U.S. and globally.
Talent shortage
Online education and recruitment platforms have emerged as big business in recent times, with an anticipated “global workforce crisis” looming. According to research from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which looked at “workforce supply-and-demand dynamics” across 25 major economies through the year 2030, there will be major labor shortages in some regions and surpluses in others. This imbalance has opened the doors to a number of initiatives that seek to plug shortages in the domestic U.S. market by scouting overseas.
Mark Zuckerberg-backed Andela, for example, announced a $40 million raise earlier this week to connect tech firms with Africa’s best software developers.
Woz U is ultimately designed to train people and get them working as quickly as possible, joining the dots between a company’s hiring efforts and people willing to put in the effort to get trained — or retrained — for tech roles. For now, the platform constitutes a mobile app that features an aptitude test and matches people with the technology career “best suited for them,” according to the institute.
The business will expand to multiple platforms over time, including Woz U Enterprise for technology companies seeking to recruit and train directly though a subscription-based curriculum or on-site programs. There will also be a K-12 Woz U Education facet aimed at school districts to encourage young people to pursue a career in the tech industry.
Later, there will be a Woz U Academy that promises one-on-one instruction, and the Woz U Accelerator program scheduled for 2019 will help hone students’ skills.
Source:
https://venturebeat.com/2017/10/13/apple-cofounder-steve-wozniak-launches-woz-u/
Yellowstone supervolcano may erupt faster than we thought
Yellowstone may be best known for its geysers like Old Faithful, but it’s also famous for the supervolcano that lies just beneath the surface.
Now researchers from Arizona State University believe the supervolocano last erupted after two influxes of fresh magma flowing into the reservoir beneath the volcano — and it all occurred much more quickly than previously thought.
Geologists previously believed it would take centuries for a buildup like that to lead to an eruption.
The latest analysis of minerals in Yellowstone reveal the critical changes in temperature and composition built up in decades as opposed to centuries.
Another study from 2013 also showed the magma reservoir that feeds the supervolcano is about two and a half times bigger than previously thought.
A single eruption from this supervolcano would likely darken the sky across the majority of the United States in addition to spewing hot lava from the eruption site.
The Yellowstone supervolcano has erupted three different times, the last of which was 631,000 years ago.
In that eruption, roughly 1,000 cubic kilometers of rock, dust and volcanic ash exploded into the sky and rained across more than half the United States.
Don’t go prepping for the end now, however.
The supervolcano in Yellowstone is one of the most monitored volcanoes in the world, and scientists haven’t seen any signs of an imminent threat.
The U.S. Geological Survey puts yearly odds of another Yellowstone eruption at 1 in 730,000. If that slim chance does occur, now we know we’ll at least have decades to prepare as opposed to centuries.
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