Outsourcing it services

Mobileye, the company that specializes in chips for vision-based autonomous vehicles, announced that it will launch a full-scale, fully driverless delivery service starting in 2023. The company, a subsidiary of Intel, is joining forces with self-driving delivery startup Udelv to run this new service. Deliveries will be made using a new type of cabin-less vehicle called The Transporter. While manufacturing plans are still in flux, Mobileye and Udelv say they will produce 35,000 Transporters between 2023–2028 — a signal of their seriousness to launch a driverless delivery system at scale. “This is a real commercial deployment,” Jack Weast, vice president of automated vehicle standards at Mobileye, told The Verge . “Thirty-five thousand units starting in 2023 that will fully integrate our self driving system for commercial use for automated goods delivery.” Mobileye’s turn-key self-driving system features a full-sensor suite of 13 cameras, three long-range LiDARs, six … [Read more...] about Intel’s Mobileye will launch a fully driverless delivery service in 2023

Good news, disabled Australians! You'll soon be getting an app that will implement a welfare compliance regime designed by the people who brought you robo-debt. But don't worry, it'll have blockchain. No, this isn't good news at all. What makes it worse is that it's clear the government wants to extend technology-driven compliance to all Australians, with an emphasis on cracking down on your mistakes, not theirs. Kathryn Campbell, Secretary of the Department of Social Services, says the long-term plan is to have one app for all Commonwealth government services. "One to rule the world," she said last month, apparently oblivious to how evil that sounds. Senators are already worried that the disability app, intended to be used by participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to claim expenses against their support plan, will go the way of COVIDSafe : Millions of dollars spent on technology that doesn't really do the job. The intention was to fix a poor web … [Read more...] about NDIS gets a government app with blockchain but no ethics

In a nutshell: Intel wants to step in and help the automotive industry by creating chips for vehicles. CEO Pat Gelsinger said the company aims to produce the silicon within six to nine months. We heard last week that Gelsinger was one of several executives from top chipmakers and auto manufacturers set to meet with high-level officials within the Biden administration to discuss the semiconductor supply chain issues. Execs from Dell, Samsung, Ford, HP, AT&T, Alphabet, General Motors, and others attended the April 12 meeting. Following yesterday’s gathering, Gelsinger said Intel was talking to companies that design chips for automakers about manufacturing them in its fabs. The CEO last month unveiled plans to open up the company’s current and planned manufacturing capacity to other chipmakers through the launch of Intel Foundry Services. Intel is spending $20 billion on two new state-of-the-art fabs focused on EUV-based (extreme ultraviolet) process technologies at 7nm … [Read more...] about Intel in talks with automakers to produce vehicle chips as shortages bite

In context: Epic Games has been spending the big bucks to compete against Steam. From free game offerings to signing exclusivity deals with third party developers, Epic has been somewhat successful at pulling more customers to its platform, but at what cost? As detailed in the company's court filings in the lawsuit against Apple, Epic reported a $181 million loss in 2019 and $273 million in 2020 on the Games Store alone. Epic Games and Apple's legal feud has been going on since last August. Back then, Apple decided to remove Fortnite from the App Store after the developer introduced an alternative payment method to bypass the App Store's 30% cut. In preparation for the upcoming trial, scheduled for May 3, 2021, both Apple and Epic have filed their respective "Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law," unveiling some interesting data. In 2019, the Epic Games Store (EGS) lost about $181 million, but in 2020, the expected loss is even bigger at roughly $273 million. … [Read more...] about The Epic Games Store lost $454 million in the past two years

Roku is giving its affordable Express a 4K upgrade, creating a new product that rivals not only the latest 4K streamers from Amazon and Google, but also our favorite streamer for the money, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus . Called the Express 4K Plus, the new $40 player arrives in mid-May. The small box keeps the same design as the HD-only Express but adds a faster, more powerful processor, dual-band Wi-Fi support and a voice remote. The point-anywhere voice remote is the biggest improvement over the older $40 Roku Premiere , which included an IR-based "simple" remote that lacked voice control. The remote included with the Express 4K Plus is basically the same remote as the one on the Streaming Stick Plus, complete with the ability to accept voice commands and control your TV via power, volume and mute buttons. It lacks the headphone jack, shortcut keys and near-field voice features of the new Voice Remote Pro , but it brings the Express 4K Plus up to remote parity … [Read more...] about Roku Express 4K Plus includes voice remote, TV control and HDR, costs just $40