Diginauts 0024 — New Trivia App, AI begets AI, Driverless Car Testing

  • segment 1, Most Disruptive — Wifi Security (0:00): In our new show format, Deron & Eric start out the show by comparing their takes on which tech headlines from the last week will have the biggest impact… ON HUMANITY!!!  New HQ trivia app from Vine founders?  Dangerous flaw in Wi-Fi security standards?
  • segment 2, Juris Prudent — Graffiti Artists’ Rights (18:20):  A New York court case about ownership, art, landmarks, and culture.
  • segment 3, D.O.O.O.o.M.E.D. — Fresh Water Run-off (25:52): A chemical breakthrough in the process of desalinization could mean increased efficiency and reduced cost.
  • segment 4, Let’s Dig Some More. — CA Allows Driverless Testing (36:59): The Russians are even using our video games to manipulate America?  Would you eat human flesh if it’s grown in the lab?  Police on hooverbikes(!) in Dubai.  You might see test cars on the streets of California — sans drivers.
  • segment 5, Always in Motion Is The Future — Techpocalypse (51:30): Will humans destroy themselves with their own technology?  Runaway artificial intelligence? Nuclear war?  Tiny nanobots reducing us to goo?  We evaluate a DigitalTrends article predicting six ways humanity might end.

Tweet @DigitalDeron or @efader with your opinions, or give us a call and leave a voice message at 323.686.8255.

Diginauts 0023 — Russia’s Trojan Horse, VC by AI, Renewable Energy Advances

  • segment 1, Top of Mind  — Kaspersky Labs (0:00): More rumors of more Russian interference in U.S. computer systems
  • segment 2, The Fake News Game (9:21) : Play along with us!  This time it’s Deron’s turn to see if he can pick out which of four science headlines are real, and which one Eric completely made up.
  • segment 3, Future File — AI Predicting Start-up Success (24:28) : Can computers do a better job than humans when it comes to picking winning venture capital opportunities?
  • segment 4, Dig Some More (30:08): We’ll look at new advances in artificial intelligence, autonomous cars, and renewable resources.  Energy from seaweed, tears, or blood, anyone?

Please leave a voice message at 323.686.8255. Or, for shorter messages, tweet to @digitalderon or @efader.

Diginauts 0022 — Robot Muscle, Frog Orgies, Blockchaining Everything

episode 22 of The Diginauts
episode 22 of The Diginauts
  • segment 1, Top of Mind  — Blockchain: The Tokenization of Everything (0:00): Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been making headlines.  Eric offers his theory that the underlying blockchain technology could revolutionize more than just money, but really much of human interaction.
  • segment 2, Three Headlines & a Lie — Frogs (11:55) : Deron plays liar’s poker with Eric about the latest scientific discoveries in the Ranidae family.
  • segment 3, Future File — Robot Muscle (25:08): Columbia engineers have created a low-power, 3D-printable muscle that represents a huge breakthrough in robot autonomy.
  • segment 4, Dig Some More (31:00): Trapping CO2 in liquid form under the oceans.  A note of optimism in doom predictions for our odds of crossing 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial temperature averages.  An Israeli-Chinese trade deal on artificial meat.  Peter Thiel being considered for a top intelligence position by the White House.  The FCC seeks to make America great again — by lowering the bar on what qualifies as “high-speed” internet.

Tweet to us at @digitalderon or @efader.  Or you can leave a voice message at 323.686.8255.

Diginauts 0021 — Artificial Meat, Driverless Car Ethics, Sexuality Auto-Detection

Tweet to us at @digitalderon or @efader.  Or you can leave a voice message at 323.686.8255.

Diginauts 0020 — Refreezing a Glacier, Downing Unwanted Drones, New Hydrogen Fuel Catalyst

  • segment 1, If You Had To Choose  — Investment in Future Tech (0:00): We’ll look at three micro-industries that are seeing a bloom of startups and ask ourselves where we would invest hypothetical money.  Flying cars anyone?
  • segment 2, Always in Motion Is the Future — Seven Predictions from Bill Gates (19:30): We discuss his visions of future developments and decide if we believe he’s on the right track.
  • segment 3, Revisiting Previous Stories (37:09): That head transplant doctor is talking plans again.  Switzerland aims to re-freeze a glacier.  We’ve discovered ‘lost’ forests that could impact all of our climate change modeling.

Do you agree with our assessments of Bill Gate’s predictions?  Would you back the same startups as us?  Give us a call and leave a voice message at 323.686.8255, or tweet @efader or @digitalderon.

Diginauts 0019 — Living Forever, a River Reverses, Microbes on Saturn’s Moon?

  • segment 1, Top of Mind — No One Understands AI (0:00): The folks who are on the cutting edge of artificial intelligence admit they know longer quite get how it works.
  • segment 2, Let’s Hash It Out — #NASA (10:41): A paper details revelations about Saturn’s moon Enceledus.  Chemicals exist that could host life… maybe?
  • segment 3, Future File — Immortality! (23:36): Tests on rodents using “chemical torpedos” have eliminated the cells that invite disease.
  • segment 4, Let’s Dig Some More (32:21): A river starts flowing the opposite direction because of climate change.  What company has been running autonomous vehicles longer than anyone thinks about?  Russia is definitely NOT building a terminator.

Call us!  Tweet us!   Let us know what you think!  Give us a call and leave a voice message at 323.686.8255, or tweet @efader or @digitalderon.

Diginauts 0018 — Musk’s New Neuralink Venture, Bleached Coral Reefs, Artificial Synapses

Call us!  Tweet us!   Let us know what you think!  Give us a call and leave a voice message at 323.686.8255, or tweet @efader or @digitalderon.

Diginauts 0017 — Those Seven Exoplanets, Wireless Power Transfer, Fracking Fluid Leaks

  • segment 1, Top of Mind — NSA Spy Tech (0:00): Palantir is a software company allegedly NOT linked to the oversteps of the NSA PRISM program about which Edward Snowden raised alarms, but nonetheless designed to help governments make use of massive amounts of data for spying purposes .  One of its primary investors is Peter Thiel, now also a Trump adviser.  Conflict of interest?
  • segment 2, Let’s Hash It Out — Exoplanets & Private Moon Trips (11:06): NASA has found a solar system with SEVEN Earth-sized planets, three of which might offer conditions to support life.  SpaceX has accepted a deposit from private citizens for a recreational trip around the moon.
  • segment 3, Future File — Wireless Power (23:03)Disney Research says they’ve developed a way to safely deliver power to a roomful of devices… without cords.
  • segment 4,  Let’s Dig Some More (32:55):  Fracking fluid is leaking more often than twe thought.  High levels of dangerous chemicals are showing up in cats. More on de-extincting animals, and an update from Facebook to minimize the infamous echo chamber effect.

Call us!  Tweet us!   Let us know what you think!  Give us a call and leave a voice message at 323.686.8255, or tweet @efader or @digitalderon.

Diginauts 0016 — Resurrecting Woolly Mammoths, 23 Principals for AI, Taxing Robot Workers

Call us!  Tweet us!   Let us know what you think!  Give us a call and leave a voice message at 323.686.8255, or tweet @efader or @digitalderon.

Diginauts 0015 — How Space Affects Your Body, Fukushima Radiation, Net Neutrality in Danger Again

  • segment 1, Top of Mind — Twins! In! Spaaaaaaace! (0:00):  NASA sent one twin into space, and kept the other on Earth.  We’ll talk about what they learned from the brothers’ DNA.
  • segment 2, If You Had To Choose — Recent Governmental Maneuvers (8:00): Trump’s FCC chair signals lack of interest in net neutrality.  A federal magistrate rules that Google must turn over foreign emails to the FBI.  And Congress rolls back environmental protection laws
  • segment 3, Hope For Humanity — Swearing & Honesty (32:39):A University of Cambridge suggests those who use curse words tend to be more honest.
  • segment 4,  Let’s Dig Some More (36:52):  Fukushima radiation has spiked dangerously, an alleged arsonist was trapped by his pacemaker data, and a Chinese factory has successfully replaced 90% of its human workers with robots.

Tweet us!  Call us!  Let us know what you think!