Monthly Archives: September 2021

This is a guest blogpost by Jason Kingdon, chairman and CEO, Blue Prism

Link all computers together why would you do that?

Way back in the 1980s various academic and scientific institutions started linking their computers together into a single global network. Its underlying mission was supporting continued communication in the event of nuclear war. Helping to pass files and bits of data, it introduced a new form of electronic communication called e mail. Email was fast amazing in some ways, compared to letters and the then version of the phone.

The early 1990s saw commercial networks join this linking and the phenomenon of the Internet took hold. The World Wide Web making the Internet more accessible lit the way and the story we all know took hold.

How profound the changes introduced were not understood; and can be argued are still not. It took until the mid-1990s for the dotcom phenomenon to emerge and, despite the casualties of the burst, almost all the innovations seen as excessive at the time are now commonplace (pet food and home delivery were two front-line casualties in the early 2000s recriminations).

Commentators argue now over the pace of innovation and change brought about by this network: the pace of productivity and accessibility it has produced. Without disturbing these arguments, it is easy to see social medias impact, the global lock-down management, the accessibility of education, entertainment, hyper-communication, the technification of society, and the profound changes to economics, politics and life. Those that remember all agree everything has changed.

Link software applications together it worked for computers

The low expectations of the impact of linking computers together has a parallel right now in application software. The robotic process automation (RPA) movement champions software, designed to mimic humans. As such it can re-purpose human interfaces as machine interfaces and, by design, can make use of all machine interfaces. So what?

Where to start

The whole history of computing has been a quest to address the interoperability issue and the ability to manage and understand process resources. At a technical level it is hard to overstate why this innovation offers a supercharging of productivity, and again, changes everything. No longer is it possible to say systems are incompatible all systems now are; even if they were never designed to be. You may not be interested in the revolution but the revolution is interested in you.

Machines now have a universal middleware, and this middleware through AI reaches into human services too. The first casualties here are the investments and efforts to impose a single design authority, which is now obsolete. It is as if overnight the whole software landscape has become SOA compliant. SOA or Service Oriented Architectures was a deep techie program to cure the interoperability and re-use issue. It was a way that techies would agree to write their software so other software could use it. The effort was something akin to asking all journalists to format in English and tag their work in the same way; or asking all musicians to write and record all music in the key of C Major. In other words, all historic efforts to solve this interoperability question required epic, idealistic and fantastical compromises from all participants.

The new order created by RPA, however, takes things as they are and is totally inclusive past, present and future. A potential for singularity, if you will.

Universal middleware and hyper-containerisation

The technical arguments dont stop here; the new order that this universal middleware implies is that containerisation becomes democratised. This means all services can be wrapped and re-purposed for both machine and human consumption.

What is containerisation? It is the wrapping of a service to a common standard, it means you create a codified (computer and human readable) interface to the underlying capability. It is like an API to a Maths or AI algorithm at one end, a mainframe flight booking system at another; and then again at a new extreme, an API to something like Amazon, or even the Internet.

What does this mean?

Firstly, it goes way beyond APIs (application programming interfaces) simple codifications that are used by software to get modules chatting. The process of RPA wrapping means whole services can be machine controlled.

A good example of this already occurs the price comparison sites have become automated service switching businesses. A robot can now keep your house utility bills optimised against the full range of 3rd party services offered; a new banking service could pixelate (digitise) the services from existing providers to offer a single pain of glass to a user mixing and matching best products. Imagine mixing best international transfer services with stockbroking, house banking and mortgages, and so on.

The lack of barriers between applications means all of these recombinations become in scope new levels of creativity are unleashed, very akin to the power of the Internet.

It also changes the way internal services are carried out within corporations: like mortgages, underwriting, HR, finance. The new regime allows the abstraction of these services from process outcomes from the underlying methods of their execution; this means hyper-scalability core services becoming new core competences that can be rented and marketed at a whole new scale. The mortgage services company, or the trade finance service company, or the physical asset finance management company; the banking compliance company etc.

Like the ye olde days of the internet; creative destruction is being invited at all levels. It is as if the digital equivalent of the Iron Curtain has come down freedom of movement is now abounding.

Digital freedom of movement

One of the profoundest implications of this new world is on the future: if all digital services are consumable by all others then the old tricks of walled gardens and lock in incompatibilities built in to the design to ensure that consumers are trapped become obsolete. This has the effect of linking R&D efforts in a veritible liquid form. It means at one level we are all collaborating now.

AI can already read at modest levels unstructured human writings. But technical documents like written software and user interfaces and are easy pickings: robots can tirelessly rewrite these documents into modern accessible and liquid forms (APIs). More robots can tirelessly re-compose these outputs into further accessible mash-ups and composites. A singularity if you will. Would that be enough to change the world?

See the article here:

Welcome to the Digital Singularity - ComputerWeekly.com

Ashes of the Singularity, the massive real-time strategy game from Stardock Entertainment just got a new Core Worlds DLC.

Available now and ready to expand your empire on PC, the latest addition to Ashes of the Singularity Escalation is a brand new DLC and version update. The newest maps might come in at just a few dollars but they add new warzones based on real-world geographic designs and distribute resources to offset the geographical disadvantages across each battlefield. All 5 of the new designs come with objectives for 2 6 players, with a balance of resources and tactical advantage that are built to challenge a commander to manage units so that they are not simply bottlenecked or steamrolled into submission. The extra add ins that come with the new DLC include:

The new map isnt all that players loading up Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation can expect. Anybody who has been away from the battlefield for a while will notice some improvements as part of the v3.1 update. Landing alongside the Core Worlds DLC, the new v3.1 update should seriously reduce load times and improves combat balance and visuals, meaning more on-screen mayhem for your money.

This update makes significant improvements in performance, said Stardock CEO Brad Wardell. We increased the number of CPU cores that can simultaneously interact with the GPU from 8 to 16 which should translate to smoother performance when thousands of units are on screen.

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation is the newest upgraded iteration of the iconic RTS Ashes of Singularity, where a post-human coalition battles against the overwhelming power of an AI substrate bent on wiping out everything that stands against it. If youre gearing up for another shot at victory then Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation is available on Steam or Stardock for $29.99, while the new Core Worlds DLC will set you back $2.99 / 2.09 or local equivalent.

Read the rest here:

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation Has A Core Worlds DLC - GameSpace.com

Its been 36 years since Alice Hyatt walked out of Mels Diner for the last time on her way to finally realizing her dream of becoming a singer. But Linda Lavin, who played her, still hears thanks from women who saw their own lives reflected in Alice, her long-running series about a hardworking single mom.

Alice represented 80 percent of all the women who work in this country who are single mothers and fighting for equal pay and benefits like health care and childcare, Linda tells Closer. My favorite thing about it was that it inspired women to go after a better life for themselves. And over the years, it reached five generations of kids, families and women.

At 83, Linda remains just as hardworking as her former TV character. The performer, who has a recurring role on the CBS sitcom B Positive, plays a tough-minded judge in Naked Singularity, a film starring John Boyega, in theaters and on demand now.

Linda also has several live musical performances on her upcoming schedule as well as a part in the highly anticipated Lucy and Desi biopic, Being the Ricardos.

You starred on Alice for nine seasons. Do you have a favorite episode?One of the first episodes we did in 1976, which was our first year on the air, was a show where Alice was going to do a commercial for Mel. She thought shed be all glamorous and singing a fabulous sexy song to sell Mels Diner, but instead he put her in a hamburger suit. The source of comedy is thinking youre going to be on some glamorous train and then finding out youre the caboose! That was one of my favorites.

How did the cast get along?We were a family, and a family gets along as it finds out how to balance personalities, needs, desires and egos. A workplace is really all about the production, not about individuals. But we got along very, very well because we lasted for nine years. Thats an unusually long time for a series.

Youre currently on the sitcom B Positive. Who do you play?I play a woman who lives in the retirement home where Annaleigh Ashford, the star of the show, works. I became sort of a mentor and a good friend as I like to say, the only grown-up in the room because shes very young and [costar] Thomas Middleditch is young. They have an innocence about them and need somebody to give them the honest skinny once in a while.

You play a judge in your new film, Naked Singularity. What was that like?It was shot in Manhattan in the real courts, not a movie set. It was so real and so dingy, it makes Law & Order look glamorous. And I get to play a very strict, ironically humorous, powerful, articulate judge who puts John Boyega, the star of the movie, in his place. It endears you to him because he is working in a system which is very [messed] up. It was very powerful for me and I loved it.

Youve done so much with your career: movies, TV, theater, recording. Was there ever a time when you thought you wouldnt become a performer?Yes. There was a certain point in my life when I had been active on Broadway and things slowed down. The theater business really took quite a turn downward in the 1970s. Thats when I first started going out to California to look for work. It did look like I might need to find another career.

What do you think you might have done?I think I would have become an interior decorator. I like working with design and color its one of my hobbies. My husband designed an outdoor venue for entertainment, concerts and weddings in upstate New York where we live in Claverack. His name is Steve Bakunas. My name, as you know, is Lavin, so were calling it Bakulaville.

Thats cute. Did you decorate it?We decorated together. Its something I have a passion for no real education in it, although my aunt was an interior decorator. Its trial and error. I once had to have a house painted three times before it was right. Now you can do that virtually online.

You married your husband in 2005. How did you meet?I had set up a foundation so I could work with inner city girls from the ages of 9 to 13, who were at risk in their communities. We encouraged them to speak their stories or sing them or find a way to connect with their own power through movement, music or poetry. It was a very exciting time in my life. I was sent to a theater in Cape Cod to do the program, and through that theater I met Steve. So it had a very nice, sweet outcome.

Whats your secret to a happy marriage?Its not a secret. The happiness or the satisfaction of a marriage comes from communication and hard work. Learning how to communicate and how to listen, how to understand, how to have compassion for yourself and for the other, how to find ways to laugh, how to find the lovability in yourself. It isnt just one thing, its a lot.

What are you proudest of?What Im most proud of is that I have a wonderful life and that Ive been able to make a living doing what I love. Im in a relationship with my husband anda life with him that is full of adventure and growth. Im proud and grateful for great good health, people in my life whom I love, and the capacity to find myself loving and lovable.

Do you have any tips for staying as vibrant and energetic as you are?I dont know if its just one thing. Ive been on a very strong spiritual path for many, many years. That helps me and teaches me to accept the things I cannot change and it teaches me to remember that I am powerless over other people, places and things. It teaches me to forgive myself for my mistakes and to make amends to other people for my mistakes. I have the most wonderful relationship of my life with Steve. Those arent secrets. Those are truths that Im willing to share as I talk about why my life is so good.

Read the original:

Linda Lavin Reveals Her Favorite Moment on Alice and How She Met Her Husband of 16 Years - Closer Weekly

LONGEVITY

Meet Altos Labs, Silicon Valleys Latest Wild Bet on Living ForeverAntonio Regalado | MIT Technology ReviewAltos is pursuing biological reprogramming technology, a way to rejuvenate cells in the lab that some scientists think could be extended to revitalize entire animal bodies, ultimately prolonging human life. The new companyis recruiting a large cadre of university scientists with lavish salaries and the promise that they can pursue unfettered blue-sky research on how cells age and how to reverse that process.

The Worldview Changing Drugs Poised to Go MainstreamEd Prideaux | BBCThe psychedelic renaissance promises to change far more about our societies than simply the medical treatments that doctors prescribe. Unlike other drugs, psychedelics can radically alter the way people see the world. They also bring mystical and hallucinatory experiences that are at the edge of current scientific understanding. So, what might follow if psychedelics become mainstream?

A Single Laser Fired Through a Keyhole Can Expose Everything Inside a RoomAndrew Liszewski | GizmodoBeing able to see inside a closed room was a skill once reserved for superheroes. But researchers at the Stanford Computational Imaging Labhave expanded on a technique called non-line-of-sight imaging so that just asingle point of laser light entering a room can be used to see what physical objects might be inside.

One Labs Quest to Build Space-Time Out of Quantum ParticlesAdam Becker | QuantaFor over two decades, physicists have pondered how the fabric of space-time may emerge from some kind of quantum entanglement. In Monika Schleier-Smiths lab at Stanford University, the thought experiment is becoming real. By engineering highly entangled quantum systems in a tabletop experiment, Schleier-Smith hopes to produce something that looks and acts like the warped space-time predicted by Albert Einsteins theory of general relativity.

Our Flexible Processors Can Now Use Bendable RAMJohn Timmer | Ars TechnicaA few months ago, we brought news ofa bendable CPU, termed Plastic ARM, that was built of amorphous silicon on a flexible substrate. The use cases for something like this are extremely low-powered devices that can be embedded in clothing or slapped on the surface of irregular objects, allowing them to have a small amount of autonomous computing. [Now] researchers have built a form of flexible phase-change memory, which is closer in speed to normal RAM than flash memory but requires no power to maintain its state.

Lithium-ion Batteries Just Made a Big Leap in a Tiny ProductJames Temple | MIT Technology ReviewSilas novel anode materials packed far more energy into a new Whoop fitness wearable. Its a small device but potentially a big step forward for the battery field, where promising lab results often fail to translate to commercial success. Were big believers that hope and hype doesnt change the worldshipping does, [Sila CEO] Gene Berdichevsky says.

In the US, the AI Industry Risks Becoming Winner-Take-MostKhari Johnson | WiredA new study warns that the American AI industry is highly concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area and that this could prove to be a weakness in the long run. The Bay leads all other regions of the country in AI research and investment activity, accounting for about one-quarter of AI conference papers, patents, and companies in the US. Bay Area metro areas see levels of AI activity four times higher than other top cities for AI development.

Image Credit: Shubham Dhage /Unsplash

See the rest here:

This Week's Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through September 11) - Singularity Hub

On this lunch-break edition of the Cult of Colt podcast, Bryan and Gumbi are revving the engines on the podcast machine as we gear up for our second season on the 1s and 2s here at Hogs Haven. Our mission is simple as the NFL gets set to kick off this week get on the record with our predictions for the 2021-22 NFL season.

While Bryan already did this with the other writers, Gumbi takes the opportunity to get in on the action despite not having a cheat sheet to work off of, there was a lot of overlapping consensus on our divisional winners (though the two of us have spent MANY years talking Washington Football Team football together, so theres bound to be an eventual singularity at some point...)

After a brief sojourn to discuss Gumbis impressions on the Tanya Snyder interview and potential name options still in the mix, we dust off everyones favorite segment (they are all favorites, right?) Hail Yeah!/ Hail Naw! to guess the over/unders on some WFT-specific predictions for this season before diving back into the rest of the workday. Let us know your thoughts by taking the polls below and sound off in the comments to support your POV.

If you havent already, be sure to subscribe to the Hogs Haven Podcast network on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and Spotify. (Also, we made a podcast Twitter! Follow us at @TheCultOfColt.)

Read more:

The Cult Of Colt: Going On The Record - Hogs Haven

Global warming is a big challenge for warm-blooded animals, which must maintain a constant internal body temperature. As anyone whos experienced heatstroke can tell you, our bodies become severely stressed when we overheat.

Animals are dealing with global warming in various ways. Some move to cooler areas, such as closer to the poles or to higher ground. Some change the timing of key life events such as breeding and migration, so they take place at cooler times. And others evolve to change their body size to cool down more quickly.

Our new research examined another way animal species cope with climate change: by changing the size of their ears, tails, beaks, and other appendages. We reviewed the published literature and found examples of animals increasing appendage size in parallel with climate change and associated temperature increases.

In doing so, we identified multiple examples of animals that are most likely shape-shifters. The pattern is widespread, and suggests climate warming may result in fundamental changes to animal form.

Its well known that animals use their appendages to regulate their internal temperature. African elephants, for example, pump warm blood to their large ears, which they then flap to disperse heat. The beaks of birds perform a similar functionblood flow can be diverted to the bill when the bird is hot.

This means there are advantages to bigger appendages in warmer environments. In fact, as far back as the 1870s, American zoologist Joel Allen noted in colder climates, warm-blooded animals (also known as endotherms) tended to have smaller appendages, while those in warmer climates tend to have larger ones.

This pattern became known as Allens rule, which has since been supported by studies of birds and mammals.

Biological patterns such as Allens rule can also help make predictions about how animals will evolve as the climate warms. Our research set out to find examples of animal shape-shifting over the past century, consistent with climatic warming and Allens rule.

We found most documented examples of shape-shifting involve birdsspecifically, increases in beak size.

This includes several species of Australian parrots. Studies show the beak size of gang-gang cockatoos and red-rumped parrots has increased by between four percent and ten percent since 1871.

Mammal appendages are also increasing in size. For example, in the masked shrew, tail and leg length have increased significantly since 1950. And in the great roundleaf bat, wing size increased by 1.64 percent over the same period.

The variety of examples indicates shape-shifting is happening in different types of appendages and in a variety of animals, in many parts of the world. But more studies are needed to determine which kinds of animals are most affected.

Of course, animal appendages have uses far beyond regulating body temperature. This means scientists have sometimes focused on other reasons that might explain changes in animal body shape.

For example, studies have shown the average beak size of the Galapagos medium ground finch has changed over time in response to seed size, which is in turn influenced by rainfall. Our research examined previously collected data to determine if temperature also influenced changes in beak size of these finches.

These data do demonstrate rainfall (and, by extension, seed size) determines beak size. After drier summers, survival of small-beaked birds was reduced.

But we found clear evidence that birds with smaller beaks are also less likely to survive hotter summers. This effect on survival was stronger than that observed with rainfall. This tells us the role of temperature may be as important as other uses of appendages, such as feeding, in driving changes in appendage size.

Our research also suggests we can make some predictions about which species are most likely to change appendage size in response to increasing temperaturesnamely, those that adhere to Allens rule.

These include (with some caveats) starlings, song sparrows, and a host of seabirds and small mammals, such as South American gracile opossums.

Our research contributes to scientific understanding of how wildlife will respond to climate change. Apart from improving our capacity to predict the impacts of climate change, this will enable us to identify which species are most vulnerable and require conservation priority.

Last months report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showed we have very little time to avert catastrophic global warming.

While our research shows some animals are adapting to climate change, many will not. For example, some birds may have to maintain a particular diet which means they cannot change their beak shape. Other animals may simply not be able to evolve in time.

So while predicting how wildlife will respond to climate change is important, the best way to protect species into the future is to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent as much global warming as possible.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Image Credit: Free-Photos from Pixabay

The rest is here:

New Research Reveals Animals Are Changing Their Body Shapes to Cope With Climate Change - Singularity Hub

Between the grim outlook reported by the IPCCs Sixth Assessment Report last month and frequent reports of extreme weather events all over the world, the climate crisis feels like its getting more dire by the week. Accordingly, calls for action are intensifying, and companies and governments are scrambling for solutions. Renewables are ramping up, innovative energy storage technologies are being brought to the table, and pledges to go carbon-neutral are piling up as fast as, well, carbon.

South Koreas Hyundai Motor Group has joined the fray, but on a path that diverges a bit from the crowd; theyre going all-in on hydrogen. At the companys aptly named Hydrogen Wave Forum this week, it unveiled multiple hydrogen-powered concept vehicles, as well as a strategy for building up its presence in the hydrogen space over the next few years (and decades).

The company unveiled a ground shipping concept its calling the Trailer Drone, which sits on a fuel-cell-powered chassis called the e-Bogie. The e-Bogies, named after the frames train cars sit on, have four-wheel independent steering that lets them move in ways normal cars and trucks cant, like sideways (in crab fashion) or in circles. The modular e-Bogies can be combined to carry different-sized trailers, and can go an estimated 621 miles (1,000 kilometers) on a single fill-up. The system would be autonomous, and the concept doesnt include a cab or seat for a human driver.

Hyundai also unveiled a hydrogen-powered concept sports car called the Vision FK. The car is a plug-in hybrid, meaning the fuel cell charges a traditional battery. The 500-kilowatt fuel cell gives the car the ability to go from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in under 4 seconds. The carmaker didnt give a timeline for when (or whether) the Vision FK would enter production, though.

Finally, Hyundai said its working on hydrogen-powered versions of its existing commercial vehicles, and plans to bring those to market by 2028.

Hyundai is by no means new to the hydrogen game; the company already has fuel-cell-powered trucks and buses on the roads, including its Xcient truck, which is in use in Switzerland, and its Elec City Fuel Cell bus, which is on roads in South Korea and being trialed in Germany.

One of the technologys biggest detractors is none other than Elon Musk, who finds hydrogen fuel cells extremely silly. But Toyota would disagree with Musks take; the company is building a hydrogen-powered prototype city near the base of Mount Fuji called Woven City.

For its part, Hyundai is aiming to get its fuel cell powertrain to a point where it can compete cost-wise with electric vehicle batteries by 2030.

A study released earlier this year by McKinseys hydrogen council found that when you factor in the relative efficiencies of the power sources and lifetime costs of a truck, green hydrogen could reach cost parity with diesel by 2030. A paper published in Joule last month laid out a road map for building a green hydrogen economy.

Despite these promising outlooks, its still highly uncertain whether hydrogen will become a widespread, cost-effective energy source. But it seems were getting to a point where its worth looking into any option that could make the future of the planet look brighter than it does right now.

Image Credit: Hyundai

More here:

Hyundai Goes All-In on Hydrogen With Its 'Trailer Drone' and More - Singularity Hub

A little over four years ago, the worlds first commercial plant for sucking carbon dioxide out of the air opened near Zurich, Switzerland. The plant was powered by a waste heat recovery facility, with giant fans pushing air through a filtration system that trapped the carbon. The carbon was then separated and sold to buyers, such as a greenhouse that used it to help grow vegetables. The plant ran as a three-year demonstration project, capturing an estimated 900 tons of CO2 (the equivalent to the annual emissions of 200 cars) per year.

This week, a plant about four times as large as the Zurich facility started operating in Iceland, joining 15 other direct air capture (DAC) plants that currently operate worldwide. According to the IEA, these plants collectively capture more than 9,000 tons of CO2 per year.

Christened Orca after the Icelandic word for energy, the new plant was built by Swiss company Climeworks in partnership with Icelandic carbon storage firm Carbfix. Orca is the largest of existing facilities of its type, able to capture 4,000 tons of carbon per year. Thats equal to the emissions of 790 cars.

The plant consists of eight collector containers each about the size and shape of a standard shipping container. Their fans run on energy from a nearby geothermal power plant, which was part of the reason this location made sense; Iceland has an abundance of geothermal energy, not to mention a subterranean geology that lends itself quite well to carbon sequestration. Orca was built on a lava plateau in the countrys southwest region.

This plant works a little differently than the Zurich plant, in that the captured carbon is liquefied then pumped underground into basalt caverns. Over time (less than two years, according to Carbfixs website), it turns to stone.

One of the biggest issues with direct air capture is that its expensive, and this facility is no exception. Climeworks co-founder Christoph Gebald estimates its currently costing $600 to $800 to remove one metric ton of carbon. Costs would need to drop to around a sixth of this level for the company to make a profit. Gebald thinks Climeworks can get costs down to $200 to $300 per ton by 2030, and half that by 2040. The National Academy of Sciences estimated that once the cost of CO2 extraction gets below $100-150 per ton, the air-captured commodity will be economically competitive with traditionally-sourced oil.

The other problem that detractors of DAC cite is its energy usage relative to the amount of CO2 its capturing. These facilities use a lot of energy, and theyre not making a lot of difference. Granted, the energy they use will come from renewable sources, but were not yet to the point where that energy is unlimited or free. An IEA report from May of this year stated that to reach the carbon-neutral targets that have been set around the world, almost one billion metric tons of CO2 will need to be captured using DAC every year. Our current total of 9,000 tons is paltry in comparison.

But Climeworks and other companies working on DAC technology are optimistic, saying that automation and increases in energy efficiency will drive down costs. This is a market that does not yet exist, but a market that urgently needs to be built, Gebald said. This plant that we have here is really the blueprint to further scale up and really industrialize.

Image Credit: Climeworks

Continue reading here:

The World's Largest Direct Air Capture Plant Is Now Pulling CO2 From the Air in Iceland - Singularity Hub