More Hyperloop

Do you ever wish traffic would just go away? Well, Tesla CEO Elon Musk does too. The man already wants to build a city on Mars, but while we're still on Earth, he has some ideas to combat the traffic issue.

Musk’s crew, ironically named “The Boring Company,” released a digital blueprint for an underground series of tunnels that could get you from NYC to the Nation’s capital in a half hour.

The tunnels would be accessible via street elevators that will transport cars from above ground to the underground Hyperloop. Vehicles would then be carted off to their destinations at speeds of up to 124 miles per hour. To avoid congestion, tunnels would cross over on top of each other.

He claims to have received a verbal government approval to turn his Hyperloop blueprint into a reality. Musk recently took to Twitter to advertise his idea. His tunnels will also have stops in Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Musk and his team have already begun experimenting by digging on privately owned property. As optimistic and revolutionary as his project seems, Musk himself admits that there is still “a lot of work needed to receive formal approval.”

Learn more here.

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Google Street Views

It turns out that Google Street View isn’t limited to streets at all. Unless you’re an astronaut, odds are you haven’t seen the International Space Station (ISS).  Google Street View is leaving the safety of Earth’s atmosphere and is giving us its first glimpses of outer space.

The new development allows users to virtually travel the 15 modules of the ISS. For us non-space experts, they’ll provide explanations of the equipment you’ll encounter on your virtual journey.

Since the ISS doesn’t have to abide by the laws of gravity, you'll need a 360-degree view to take everything in. Google’s controls make this a tad difficult, but to be fair, this isn’t exactly what the software was originally intended for.

Technical operations director Matt Potter stated, “We’ve mapped all over the world and really wanted to exceed where we could go, why not space?” 

ISS astronauts are hopeful that Google Street View’s new development will allow people to see the sheer beauty of one of Earth’s proudest technological inventions.

Read more here.

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Afghanistan Robotics Team

Afghanistan’s all-girl robotics team made headlines when they were denied visas to enter the United States due to America’s travel ban. The FIRST Global Challenge is an international robotics competition where teams were challenged to engineer a way to provide access to clean water. Team Afghanistan ended up winning a silver medal and received special recognition for “courageous achievement” at the international event.

After being denied entry to the United States twice, team Afghanistan was preparing to watch the competition live via Skype. With all the obstacles they had endured, these girls were long overdue for a break. That break came at the hand of President Donald Trump who passionately urged security officials to allow the all-girl robotics team to enter the United States.

First Daughter Ivanka Trump served as a Senior Adviser for the event and expressed her excitement about meeting the girls of team Afghanistan. Pictures of the First Daughter meeting with the all-girl robotics team quickly went viral and they were even posted by the Afghan embassy.

The girls undoubtedly faced more adversity than any of their peers, but their ability to overcome obstacles with flying colors is a true inspiration to the scientific community worldwide.

Learn more here.

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Robot Hari Kari

Technology is evolving before our very eyes and new state of the art technological innovations seem to be popping up every day. With all this promising technology, there are bound to be some issues to work out.

On July 17th, a Knightscope Security Robot at the Washington Harbour mall suffered a malfunction when it drove itself into an outdoor water pond. Knightscope, a California based robotics company, produces “autonomous robots that provide a commanding but friendly physical security presence.” The robots are said to mimic efforts of typical human security guards.

This isn’t Knightscope’s first experience with technological malfunctions. In the summer of 2016, the 300-pound Knightscope K5 made headlines when it supposedly ran over a toddler in a California shopping mall.

Vice President of Marketing and Sales Stacy Dean Stephens is confident that this mishap is a one-time occurence. She recently explained, “The incident is under investigation. No people were harmed or involved in any way. A new robot will be delivered this week at no cost to the Harbour per our service agreement."

Until then, Knightscope will have to deal with all the social media backlash about their suicidal robot.

Read more here.

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No More Edits on YouTube

YouTube recently announced that they will be eliminating the built in Video Editor feature this upcoming September. This particular YouTube feature has been around for seven years, but it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. Google community managers have complained about its limited features and low usage.  According to a former YouTube spokesman, only a mere 0.1% of YouTube users actually use the built-in video editing options.

The site's Enhancements feature will still be around around in the Video Manager, allowing users to add blur effects, filters and trim content from the upload page. The site’s help page informs users to explore different video editing programs to really experience top-notch editing.

YouTube is basically abandoning the idea of in-video editing in hopes that they could focus on new features within the tech community. It’ll be interesting to see how YouTubers react come September 20th.

Learn more here.