Dozens of federal government websites are not working correctly due to the ongoing government shutdown, BuzzFeed News reported on Friday, including ones for the Seventh Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals and some NASA and Department of Justice webpages. According to BuzzFeed, these sites and others appear to be…
Self-driving cars employ a whole host of sensors and technology that helps them navigate by themselves, detect obstacles, and so on. One of those technologies used is LiDAR, which is a laser system used to help measure distances. These lasers are rated to be safe to the human eye, but unfortunately it might not be safe for cameras.
This is what engineer Jit Ray Chowdhury found out (via ArsTechnica) when he was snapping photos of a self-driving car by Ridecell at CES 2019. Everything seemed okay until he discovered in his photos bright purple spots with lines emanating from them. Speaking to the publication, Chowdhury said, “I noticed that all my pictures were having that spot. I covered up the camera with the lens cap and the spots are there—it’s burned into the sensor.”
It seems that this was due to the LiDAR system employed by the car that might have caused damage to his $1,998 camera. The car itself uses a laser system from AEye, whose CEO Luis Dussan told Ars that the company’s lasers are safe for the human eye, but since cameras are more sensitive, there is a chance that lasers in general could affect them in a negative way, which you can see in the video above.
However this story does have a happy ending because AEye has since offered to buy Chowdhury a new camera. We’re not sure if he took them up on the offer, but it was nice of them to do so anyway.
@CES @AEyeInc Aeye LIDAR damaged my DSLR, they are not safe to be photographed. Neither was I warned when I took permission for photo nor this happened with any other LIDAR. See the red spots, they are permanent damages. pic.twitter.com/WlvJtCH3rd
— Jit Ray Chowdhury (@jitrc) January 9, 2019
A Self-Driving Car’s Laser Reportedly Destroyed A Man’s Camera , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
“Do we think he is wandering the hall, talking to the portrait of Nixon?” asks one tweet.
Shut the internet down! I have finally seen everything. If you have ever wondered how robots stay in shape, we have the answer. Apparently, it all goes back to the 1980s. This video shows us that robots keep fit by doing aerobics Jane Fonda style, complete with 1980s aerobics studio film set. Who knew? THIS is the reason they will be hard to kill when they come for us in the apocalypse. These bots are fit!
Check out this video of a 3D printed Z6 hexapod robot by Robugtix performing a 1980’s style aerobics show routine. It’s pretty badass. It’s just too bad the robot isn’t wearing one of those silly leotard things that people wore back then. This ‘bot has all the moves, if not the clothes. It works out to a classic ’80s jam that be at home in almost any ’80s action or drama movie, and basically shakes its servos all over the place.
At the beginning of the video, the six-legged robot unfolds itself and starts the routine. It moves surprisingly smoothly. So at least now we know that our future will be filled with agile robots who will dance over our graves.
[via Laughing Squid via Geekologie]
Tidal may trail far behind rivals Spotify and Apple Music, but it’s not dropping out of the streaming music game. You might take the same view about car company Lincoln, which is far from the biggest name in luxury SUVs, but over the last several months it’s been working hard at updating both its image and vehicles. This may not … Continue reading
Dozens of federal government websites are not working correctly due to the ongoing government shutdown, BuzzFeed News reported on Friday, including ones for the Seventh Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals and some NASA and Department of Justice webpages. According to BuzzFeed, these sites and others appear to be…
Self-driving cars employ a whole host of sensors and technology that helps them navigate by themselves, detect obstacles, and so on. One of those technologies used is LiDAR, which is a laser system used to help measure distances. These lasers are rated to be safe to the human eye, but unfortunately it might not be safe for cameras.
This is what engineer Jit Ray Chowdhury found out (via ArsTechnica) when he was snapping photos of a self-driving car by Ridecell at CES 2019. Everything seemed okay until he discovered in his photos bright purple spots with lines emanating from them. Speaking to the publication, Chowdhury said, “I noticed that all my pictures were having that spot. I covered up the camera with the lens cap and the spots are there—it’s burned into the sensor.”
It seems that this was due to the LiDAR system employed by the car that might have caused damage to his $1,998 camera. The car itself uses a laser system from AEye, whose CEO Luis Dussan told Ars that the company’s lasers are safe for the human eye, but since cameras are more sensitive, there is a chance that lasers in general could affect them in a negative way, which you can see in the video above.
However this story does have a happy ending because AEye has since offered to buy Chowdhury a new camera. We’re not sure if he took them up on the offer, but it was nice of them to do so anyway.
@CES @AEyeInc Aeye LIDAR damaged my DSLR, they are not safe to be photographed. Neither was I warned when I took permission for photo nor this happened with any other LIDAR. See the red spots, they are permanent damages. pic.twitter.com/WlvJtCH3rd
— Jit Ray Chowdhury (@jitrc) January 9, 2019
A Self-Driving Car’s Laser Reportedly Destroyed A Man’s Camera , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Amazon’s Dash buttons have been found to breach consumer e-commerce rules in Germany.
The push-to-order gizmos were debuted by Amazon in 2015 in an attempt by the e-commerce giant to shave friction off of the online shopping process by encouraging consumers to fill their homes with stick-on, account-linked buttons that trigger product-specific staple purchases when pressed — from washing powder to toilet roll to cat food.
Germany was among the first international markets where Amazon launched Dash, in 2016, along with the U.K. and Austria. But yesterday a higher state court in Munich ruled the system does not provide consumers with sufficient information about a purchase.
The judgement follows a legal challenge by a regional consumer watchdog, Verbraucherzentrale NRW, which objects to the terms Amazon operates with Dash.
It complains that Amazon’s terms allow the company to substitute a product of a higher price or even a different product in place of what the consumer originally selected for a Dash push purchase.
It argues consumers are also not provided with enough information on the purchase triggered when the button is pressed — which might be months after an original selection was made.
Dash buttons should carry a label stating that a paid purchase is triggered by a press, it believes.
The Munich court has now sided with the group’s view that Amazon does not provide sufficient information to Dash consumers, per Reuters.
In a press release following the ruling, Verbraucherzentrale NRW said the judges agreed Amazon should inform consumers about price and product before taking the order, rather than after the purchase as is currently the case.
It also expressed confidence the judgement leaves no room for Amazon to appeal — though the company has said it intends to do so.
Commenting on the ruling in a statement, Verbraucherzentrale NRW consumer bureau chief, Wolfgang Schuldzinski, said: “We are always open to innovation. But if innovation is to put consumers at a disadvantage and to make price comparisons more difficult, then we use all means against them, as in this case.”
Amazon did not reply to questions about how it intends to respond to the court ruling in the short term, such as whether it will withdraw the devices or change how Dash works in Germany.
Instead it emailed us the following statement, attributed to a spokesperson: “The decision is not only against innovation, it also prevents customers from making an informed choice for themselves about whether a service like Dash Button is a convenient way for them to shop. We are convinced the Dash Button and the corresponding app are in line with German legislation. Therefore, we’re going to appeal.”
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