Tag: robotics

  • Friday 5 — 2.26.2016

    Friday 5 — 2.26.2016

    snapchat filters

    1. Snapchat now allows users to design and submit their own geofilters — overlays that appear on snaps sent within a defined area and timeframe. Techcrunch explains how to make your own.,
    2. If you’re now perpetually wandering around with earbuds in, you’re likely spending some of that time listening to Spotify. But you may not know some of Spotify’s lesser-known, cool features, like re-producing your favorite album or finding obscure musical sub-genres through advanced search.
    3. A lot has been written about responsive work process, and how it can improve both team culture and product results. This Smashing Magazine article offers an especially clear and concise definition and approach, with relevant examples.
    4. Is your data visualization conveying what you think it does? This article explains the role and effect of various preattentive attributes, and provides a checklist to keep your data visualization on track.
    5. Chris Dixon outlines “What’s Next in Computing?” He provides a historical overview of recent gestation and growth phases in computing, as well as insights into technologies like drones and AI which are rapidly maturing in the marketplace.

    Weekend fun: If 180lb walking robots are your jam, Boston Dynamics has just the video for you. I’m pretty sure the guy who pokes Atlas with the hockey stick is not going to survive his next video shoot.

    Every Friday, find five, highly subjective pointers to compelling technologies, emerging trends, and interesting ideas that affect how we live and work digitally. Try out the Friday 5 archive, or sign up for a weekly email.

     

  • HUBweek moments

    HUBweek moments

    HUBweek 2015 is a wrap. 46,000 people took part in this weeklong celebration of the work and impact at the intersection of art, science, and technology in Greater Boston. The festival was co-founded by Harvard, MIT, MGH, and the Boston Globe, and benefited from creative collaborators from dozens of institutions across the region.

    A few of my favorite moments:

    “Who you are; who parents think you are; who your computer thinks you are can be three totally separate people.”

    Alexis Wilkinson on the role of technology in our lives at Fenway Forum [video]

    “We live in the Golden Age of surveillance, where law can subvert technology and technology can subvert law … the most intimate surveillance device I have is my cell phone.”

    Bruce Schneier, presenting on The Future of Privacy and Security in a Big Data World

    “Metadata isn’t neutral.”

    Andromeda Yelton, sharing big ideas and practical truths in Libraries: The Next Generation [liveblog by David Weinberger] [video]

    “Narrative of podcast can be as technology, business, or the art form – and the most interesting is the art form.”

    Benjamen Walker, in State of the Podcast 2015 [video]

    Below are selected images from the week — find more on the HUBweek Instagram account, or stay tuned for HUBweek 2016.

    MIT SOLVE stage
    Chris Shipley kicks off SOLVE conference at MIT
    Perry Hewitt Hugo Van Vuuren and MIT cheetah
    Making robotics fly in Harvard Stadium with Hugo Van Vuuren