Boston

Blue Origin auctions New Shepard ride with Jeff Bezos for $28 million

Blue Origin’s month-long auction for a trip to the edge of space with its billionaire founder Jeff Bezos ended on Saturday with a closing price of $28 million. The flight aboard New Shepard, slated for July 20th, will mark the company’s first mission flying humans, in which the winning bidder will bask in a few… Read more

This $2,700 robot dog will carry a single bottle of water for you

Boston Dynamics isn’t the only company that makes futuristic quadrupedal robots. Chinese firm Unitree Robotics has also been at it for years, and this week revealed its latest creation: the Unitree Go1, a robust-looking four-legged bot that’s remarkably cheap, with prices starting at just $2,700. (For comparison, Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot costs $74,500.) What is… Read more

I broke off a tiny piece of the world with a self-flying drone

With photogrammetry, hundreds of still photos can be transformed into an incredibly realistic 3D model of a real place on Earth — assuming you capture them all. This Memorial Day weekend, a self-flying robot cameraman did that entire job for me. I simply designated where to fly and where not to fly, kicked back in… Read more

People are bidding millions for the first ride on Blue Origin’s suborbital crew capsule

Rich people are jockeying for a seat on Blue Origin’s first crewed New Shepard mission, bidding as high as $2.8 million for a ten-minute experience at the edge of space. A single seat aboard the New Shepard crew capsule, dubbed the RSS First Step Crew Capsule, went up for auction earlier this month, starting with… Read more

IRS Now Seeks Identities of American Cryptocurrency Traders

Home News (Image credit: Shutterstock) A federal court in the Northern District of California have authorized the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to identify taxpayers that have used a cryptocurrency exchange. In particular, the IRS wants to know about taxpayers who conducted at least $20,000 in crypto transactions from 2016 to 2020. Cryptocurrencies were originally designed to… Read more

Federal COVID-19 vaccine website launches with Spanish-language version

The Biden administration’s version of a COVID-19 vaccine-finding website launched today, along with a Spanish-language version, text messaging tool, and phone hotline. The new website, vaccines.gov, is a new version of VaccineFinder, a site run through a partnership between Boston Children’s Hospital and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. VaccineFinder was originally created during… Read more

The NYPD is sending its controversial robot dog back to the pound

The New York Police Department has canceled its trial of a robot dog made by US firm Boston Dynamics after receiving fierce criticism regarding the “dystopian” technology. “The contract has been terminated and the dog will be returned,” a spokesperson for the NYPD told the New York Post. John Miller, the department’s deputy commissioner for… Read more

New Trailers: Army of the Dead, The Underground Railroad, Resident Evil, and more

I finished This is a Robbery, and I won’t spoil the ending but if you’re thinking there will be a huge reveal at the end, well, you might be disappointed. What I found interesting throughout the four-part series was how the storyline relied on the voices of newspaper reporters who have covered the heist —and… Read more

Uber weed deliveries may be on the company’s roadmap — eventually

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said on CNBC Monday that the ride-hailing company would consider getting into cannabis delivery “when the road is clear.” “When federal laws come into play, we’re absolutely going to take a look at it,” Khosrowshahi said. Khosrowshahi made the remarks as part of a conversation about Uber’s February acquisition of Boston-based… Read more

Boston Dynamics’ robot dog Spot has been taught to pee beer on command

Boston Dynamics’ robot dog Spot exists in two realities. In one, it’s a terrifying harbinger of a dystopian future when robots hunt and kill humans. In the other, it’s the plaything of YouTubers who teach this robot quadruped to “piss beer” on command. The latter example comes from the talented, imaginative, piss-focused YouTuber Michael Reeves,… Read more

New Trailers: Cruella, The Woman in the Window, Loki, and more

So yesterday I watched the first episode of the Netflix documentary This is a Robbery, about the 1990 heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and the accents alone made me homesick. For those who did not grow up in the land of dropped R’s: two thieves dressed as cops stole 13 works… Read more

Expedia launches a new tool to check coronavirus travel restrictions

As more people get vaccinated against the coronavirus and spring weather coaxes people outside, we’re all thinking about those travel plans we shelved last summer. But with COVID-19 travel restrictions varying by country and by state in the US, it’s difficult to figure out what’s safe and what the latest rules are. Expedia Group —… Read more

The French army is testing Boston Dynamics’ robot dog Spot in combat scenarios

Spot, the quadruped robot built by US firm Boston Dynamics, has appeared alongside soldiers during military exercises carried out by the French army. The robot was apparently being used for reconnaissance during a two-day training exercise, but the deployment raises questions about how and where Boston Dynamics’ machines will be used in future. Pictures of… Read more

Study Shows How Fragile Semiconductor Industry Still Is

Home News (Image credit: Shutterstock) The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) published a report today detailing the, well, semiconductor industry’s weaknesses as the entire world attempts to figure out how to respond to the ongoing chip shortage. Many enthusiasts probably know the biggest issue: The semiconductor industry relies on many companies… Read more

Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 electric crossover will be Motional’s robotaxi

Lyft and Motional have selected the Hyundai Ioniq 5 for their forthcoming autonomous ride-hailing service. Motional, which is a joint venture between Aptiv and Hyundai, said the Ioniq 5 was chosen because it represents a “convergence of mobility’s two most transformative technologies — electrification and autonomy.” Motional hasn’t said how many vehicles it would acquire,… Read more