Hasta La Gadget!

Apps such as Waze and Google Maps rely a lot on crowdsourced information, where users can report incidents like accidents, traffic jams, and so on. However it seems that if you drive a Volvo vehicle, you might be able to get more information from other Volvo vehicles, thanks to the use of a cloud-based system.

The company has announced that starting today, some of its cars and trucks will be able to share traffic alerts with each other. This isn’t exactly a new feature because for example in the past if a Volvo car were to switch on their hazard lights, it would send that information to the cloud and it will then alert nearby Volvo cars that another Volvo car could have broken down nearby.

However this would be the first time that Volvo Cars will be sharing that information with Volvo trucks, thus essentially expanding their network. According to Malin Ekholm, vice president of the Volvo Cars Safety Centre, “Sharing real-time safety data based on our connected safety technology can help avoid accidents. The more vehicles we have sharing safety data in real time, the safer our roads become. We look forward to establishing further collaborations with other partners who share our commitment to traffic safety.”

Volvo’s Hazard Light Alert system has more or less become a standard in models sold in Sweden and Norway, so by expanding the number of vehicles that can share/receive the alerts, it will potentially help create a safer system. However in case it wasn’t already obvious, the only drawback is that you will need to own a Volvo car or truck to take advantage of it.

Volvo Cars & Trucks Can Share Traffic Alerts With Each Other , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Zimmerman appeared to threaten to feed the investigator to an alligator.

Nintendo has finally revealed the details of its paid online service after months of speculation by fans. The pricing is pretty much as expected ($20 per year), but the additions of online save game backups and NES games with added online multiplayer sweeten the deal.

We first heard the pricing last June, including the $3.99 monthly and $7.99 3-month options, but the announcement then left much to the imagination. This one makes things much clearer, but there are still a few mysteries it will perhaps clear up at E3 or closer to the September launch.

Save data being backed up online is perhaps the most asked-for feature on the Switch, and one other platforms have provided for years. So its official announcement will surely be greeted with cries of joy. The exact details are coming soon.

But it’s the online play for NES games that really caught my eye. Officially called “NES – Nintendo Switch Online,” it will be a collection of 10 games to start and 10 more to come, all of which can be played in both single- and multi-player modes online. How that looks exactly isn’t quite clear; the Nintendo release says “Depending on the game, players can engage in online competitive or co-op multiplayer, or take turns controlling the action.”

Does that mean we’ll have leaderboards? Ghost runs in Super Mario Bros 3? Low-latency battles in Balloon Fight? No clue.

At least the first 10 games are confirmed: Balloon Fight, Dr. Mario and Super Mario Bros. 3, Donkey Kong, Ice Climber, The Legend of Zelda, Mario Bros., Soccer, Super Mario Bros. and Tennis. The other 10 will supposedly be announced soon, with more added “on a regular basis.”

Those are of course all Nintendo-made games, suggesting licensing negotiations are still underway for classics like Final Fantasy and Double Dragon. For now it’s a package deal, you can’t just buy Soccer and play it unless you go for the full online experience.

The $20 per year subscription will also be necessary starting in September for online play. It might be a bit much to ask if you don’t play a lot of Splatoon or Mario Kart 8 or aren’t so into retro NES games, but it’s sure cheaper than the competition.

If you want to talk with your friends while trading off Zelda dungeons, you’ll still need the smartphone app, though. Perhaps a chat service will be announced another time.

A couple technical notes: the subscription is tied to an account, not the hardware, so if you and I shared a Switch and only I paid for the online aspect, you don’t get it when you log in. On the other hand, when I go to a friend’s house, I can log in to their device and use online services there. There is a $35 yearly option that lets you authorize up to 8 accounts though, for families with multiple users.

The Switch Online service isn’t needed for system updates or buying games online or anything — just online play, the NES games, and save game backups.

In January, it was announced that NASA had teamed up with the US Department of Energy to test a nuclear power system called the Kilopower project. The test was set to be conducted in the Nevada desert, where researchers would fire up the system after having previously tested its individual components. That brings us to last month when officials from … Continue reading

There are obvious dangers to sending humans to inspect nuclear sites, especially if those nuclear sites might be leaking, have leaked, or are hazardous. Granted there are safety measures in place to try and protect humans who do these jobs, but it is clear that robots are definitely the way to go.

However robots can only do so much on their own, which is why researchers are developing self-learning robots in an attempt to replace human inspectors when it comes to site inspections. The team consists of computer scientists from the University of Lincoln who have recently managed to secure £1.1 million in grant funding towards their research which involves the creation of algorithms that will allow robots to adapt to the landscape.

For example one of the robots they’ve developed involves the use of a bi-manual arm. This arm can be mounted onto a mobile platform and be operated remotely by humans, but at the same time it can also be allowed to operate by itself for certain tasks so that its human operators can do something else.

According to Professor Gerhard Neumann who is one of the leads on the project, “Clean-up and decommissioning of nuclear waste is one of the biggest challenges for our generation and the next, and the predicted costs are enormous: up to £200 billion over the next 100 years. Recent disaster situations such as Fukushima have shown the crucial importance of robotics technology for monitoring and intervention, which is missing up to date, making our work even more vital.”

Self-Learning Robots Could Soon Be Used To Inspect Nuclear Sites , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.