Tesla CEO Elon Musk launches Neuralink venture to merge human brain with AI
First it was electric cars and then came the mission to conquer space exploration and Mars. Now Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has set his sights on yet another lofty venture called Neuralink.
According to the wall street journal (subscription required), Neuralink’s mission is to help human beings merge with artificial intelligence and software to allow for improved memory interfacing with computer devices, and even potentially help alleviate those sufferings from various illnesses and diseases.
In Musk’s own words he said, “it's mostly about the bandwidth the speed of the connection between your brain and the digital version of yourself particularly output.”
The technological goals Musk and Neuralink wish to accomplish are only the stuff of science fiction at present. Today’s medical technology still makes it very dangerous to operate on the human brain and there’s the small asterisk of volunteering yourself for doctors to poke around in your noggin.
As mentioned above Musk is an ambitious guy. Not only has his work involved Tesla but let’s not forget about hyperloop and its potential tunnel company offshoot that simply began with a Twitter post from Musk at SpaceX HQ. Then there are Tesla solar roof shingles the Powerwall home battery and the list goes on...
If you thought both SpaceX and Hyperloop were seriously ambitious Neuralink should put Musk and his team to the test.
6 interesting features of the Samsung Galaxy S8 +
The Galaxy S8 has unveiled after nearly endless rumor and speculation. The leaks were solid this year — the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus have curved displays with rounded corners, and essentially no bezel. Sure, they look different, but what else is new? Here are the six most interesting features of the Galaxy S8.
The “Infinity Display. "
One of the Galaxy S8’s most interesting features is also one of the most prominent: Samsung’s new “Infinity Display.” That’s the fancy name Samsung has given to the curved AMOLED with rounded-off corners. Yes the shape of the screen is different but it affects the way the phone will feel in your hand.
You might notice all the images of the Galaxy S8 appear to be of the black phone. That’s actually just because the front bezel will be black on all, models. In the past Samsung’s phones have been the same color on the front and back. So if you had a silver phone, it was silver on the front and back. The black front panel on this phone is intended to accentuate, the look of the Infinity Display and hide the already slim bezels.
The way the screen snugs right up against the edge of the phone helps keep it compact even as Samsung boosts the, screen area. The Galaxy S8 has a 5.8-inch screen which is even larger than the Galaxy S7 Edge last year. However, the Galaxy S8 is closer in size to the GS7: 148.9 x 68.1 x 8.0 mm versus 142.4 x 69.6 x 7.9 mm.
A new, more durable battery
Samsung had a rough end to 2016 as it scrambled to clean up after the Note 7 battery fiasco. It hasn’t pushed the capacity in the GS8 probably to make extra sure it doesn’t run the risk of predisposing them to catch fire. These batteries are different though. Samsung says they’re more durable and should lose less charge over time.
According to Samsung, the Galaxy S7 battery retained about 80% of its capacity after one year of typical recharging. The lithium-ion cells in the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will apparently retain 95% of their capacity after a year, of use. That’s great especially considering the batteries are sealed in. If you’re the sort who wants to use a phone, for years on end until it dies you can feel more confident buying a Galaxy S8.
Bixby is new here
Samsung is debuting a new assistant platform with the Galaxy S8. It’s called Bixby, and it exists, alongside the Google, Assistant. There’s a dedicated button on the left side of the Galaxy S8 that will call up Bixby. What happens when you do that? It depends on the app.
Bixby isn’t supposed to answer questions or do searches for you (but it can do some of that). It’s designed to be another route for controlling the phone. Apps that are optimized for Bixby can be, completely controlled by voice. At launch, it will only work with gallery phone contacts settings camera and reminders. There are 32, apps targeted for support and there will (eventually) be an API for third-party apps.
Navigation buttons are also new
Samsung has made only minor changes to the layout of its navigation buttons since the Galaxy S3 debuted with the same design on all carriers. With the Galaxy S8 the navigation buttons are gone — at least the physical buttons. Samsung has moved to virtual buttons which allows for some cool features.
Samsung’s physical buttons have always been backward from the standard Android layout. It’s supposed to be back on the left and overview on the right of the home button. That’s what every other phone does. With the move to virtual buttons, you can rearrange them to the correct layout.
Samsung hasn’t developed a pressure-sensitive screen like Apple (though that has been rumored for years) but there is a pressure-sensitive spot. The area where the home button appears is pressure sensitive. So, even if the navigation buttons are hidden (eg. you’re watching a video or playing a game) a hard press on that spot activates the home button.
Samsung DeX comes with it
Remember the Motorola Webdock? It was a laptop shell that plugged, into the Motorola Atrix, which powered a desktop-like interface for your phone. That was a bad, idea, but Samsung is trying to do it better with Desktop Experience (DeX). All you need is a Galaxy S8 and the DeX dock.
The DeX dock has an HDMI and two USB ports. Just hook it up to your monitor and some input devices and you’re all set. The Galaxy S8 powers the interface when plugged in. That means you have access to all the data on your phone with a larger screen. It’s not clear how well apps will be supported, though. Many of them will be weirdly stretched on a large screen. Only a few of the apps on the phone have been specifically optimized for DeX.
We don’t know how much the DeX dock will cost or if it will be available at launch with the GS8. Maybe this will finally be the Webdock done right. Historically companies have typically killed their dock offerings by slapping purchase prices on them almost as high as buying a second phone. No one seems to realize that the key to driving dock support is to make the few bits of plastic and circuitry actually affordable.
More storage, finally coming wooo
This isn’t a flashy feature, but it’s really important. Samsung has, stopped limiting the base model of its flagship phone to 32GB of storage. The Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will come with 64GB of built-in storage. The lack of storage was getting weird as much cheaper phones like the OnePlus 3 shipped with 64GB standard.
Samsung will also still include a microSD card slot for expanded storage. That’s nice if you want to carry around a lot of media but it won’t be as fast as the internal storage, . Samsung’s UFS 2.0 NAND flash is blazing fast. It’s always nice to have more of it.
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