12stories

Science & Tech

How robots could help chronically ill kids attend school

Over the past century, American schools have integrated an ever-more-diverse group of students. Racial integration is most prominent, but it’s not just Native Americans, blacks and Latinos who have been brought into public education. Schools today serve children with conditions on the autism spectrum, Down syndrome and many other medical issues. But there is one group of children who still cannot attend school: those with serious chronic illnesses.A rolling screen with a camera, microphone and s

Feb 16, 2017

Our Driverless Car Future is Here

Self-driving cars are becoming a very real technology. The latest Tesla car has an autopilot feature. The CEO of Uber has stated that he will buy every self-driving car Tesla can produce for a year (about 500,000). The Google self-driving car occasionally overtakes me as I cycle to work in Austin. Other manufacturers are also developing their own self-driving systems. There’s even talk of driverless car racing.So let us imagine a not too distant (and quite likely) future where the majority of ve

Jan 26, 2016

4 Apps You Wish You Thought of First

Have you ever used an app on your phone or tablet and thought to yourself – why didn’t I think of that! Here is my list of 4 apps that I wish I thought of first.ActivehoursUnlock your paycheck anytime you want. Imagine it’s the 12th of the month and your student loan bill is coming up tomorrow but your account is looking like the inside of your couch. 43 cents. If Sallie Mae gets their way you’ll be up the creek in overdraft fees. Not if you have this app. Activehours will give you an amount fro

Jul 3, 2015

A New Jenga-Like High-Rise will Try to Connect Residents With the World

I have always been fascinated by uniquely beautiful architecture. I think some of the most creative minds in human history belongs to architects. Here is a concept of a Jenga-Style living complex that I hope gets built one day.Let’s pretend for a moment that buildings are built out of Jenga blocks. For the past century or so, skyscrapers have more or less been built from pieces that are uniformly stacked on top of one another vertically, creating solid, streamlined structures. We did this becaus

Jun 22, 2015

Here is The Final World Trade Center Tower’s New Design

The new design for the office tower—still bounded by Vesey and Fulton streets to the north and south and Greenwich and Church streets to the west and east—is purposefully asymmetrical. There’s a stair-step facade with green balconies at each setback that faces east, and a more traditional glassy curtain wall that looks west, toward the Sept. 11 memorial plaza, One World Trade, and the Hudson River. ……Projected completion date? By September 2021, the 20th anniversary of the attacks. Source: The F

Jun 9, 2015

Would you live in a floating house with an underwater bedroom

This $1.8 million “floating seahorse” house features a glass-walled underwater bedroom. I don’t know about you but I love the idea of a house that is partly submerged underwater. Its been a fantasy of mine ever since I was a kid. Sign me up!The Floating Seahorse is “essentially a boat, not a villa,” according to Kleindienst. It’s a boat that doesn’t move, with a fully-fitted kitchen and a glass-bottomed jacuzzi on its sun deck. But sure, let’s call it a boat.
A Kleindienst spokesperson tells Qua

Jun 1, 2015

What is virtual reality?

Virtual reality seems to have taken the world by storm as of late. But what exactly is virtual reality, and how will it affect our lives going forward?Virtual reality is a fully immersive computer-simulated environment that gives you the feeling of being in a specific environment. Video games have recently developed the technology enough to place users into an interactive world, whether it be in the driving seat of a car, on the battlefield of a first person shooter, or in a thrilling roller-coa

Apr 28, 2015

Why Microsoft is the Most Exciting Company in Tech Right Now

Many think of Microsoft as the aging dinosaur in the tech world. But this year is set to be the Windows 10 era, and it’s promising to be a very interesting time for the tech giant. Microsoft is doing more innovative things than it’s done in years, and the company is now arguably the most exciting company in tech. Here are 10 of the most exciting things Microsoft is doing this year.Windows 10Windows 10 will thankfully fix most of the problems users had with Windows 8 – good riddance! Windows 10

Mar 27, 2015

Wearable Showdown: Fit-bit Surge vs Microsoft Band

With the wide range of products in the fitness wearables market, it can be difficult to choose which device is right for you. Thankfully, we’re here to help. We tried out two of the most popular fitness wearables – the Microsoft Band and the Fitbit Surge – and compared them in various categories to see which fared better.HardwareThe Microsoft Band and the Fitbit Surge have fairly similar hardware capabilities. Both include 24/7 heart rate monitoring, allowing users to track their workouts better

Mar 23, 2015

Is your Cell Phone making you Dumber?

Smartphones have made our lives infinitely easier, providing convenience and comfort like never before. For instance, we no longer have to store superficial information like phone numbers in our brain. But this convenience may come at a cost. The unrelenting pings, buzzes and beeps can easily throw our brains into overdrive. Numerous studies have been conducted to determine what negative impacts heavy smartphone usage may have on us, and the results aren’t encouraging.Promotes lazy thinkingMost

Mar 14, 2015

Is your job at risk from the upcoming Robot apocalypse?

Big changes are coming to the labor market in the coming decades, as many jobs are at risk of becoming obsolete. Robots are increasingly replacing humans to perform the same tasks more efficiently and effectively. A recent paper from Oxford University believes that nearly half of all American jobs today could be automated in a decade or two.Most of us aren’t prepared for these changes. Speaking at a think tank in Washington, D.C., Bill Gates said the following:“Software substitution, whether it’

Mar 11, 2015

10 Future Technologies That Could Change Your Life

We now live in a truly digital and connected world, but we’ve only scraped the surface of what technology can do.While hover boards and flying cars don’t exist yet (as Back to the Future predicted by 2015), there are still plenty of life-changing technologies under development. Our appliances, thermostats, smoke alarms, car, and even utensils will soon all be connected to our smartphones, which will begin to act as remote controls for our lives. The Internet will become more personalized, as com

Mar 9, 2015