Ford to invest US$1 billion into autonomous vehicle startup Argo AI

REUTERS/Daniel Becerril

Not wanting to be left behind in the self-driving car race, Ford is pouring a US$1 billion investment over five years at Argo AI. The previously unheard of startup is led by Uber and Google veterans. They will be working with Ford’s team to create a fully self-driving car by 2021. The cars will be used for commercial ride sharing fleets. Argo AI won’t be owned by Ford but the company is the largest shareholder. The startup will be focusing on artificial intelligence and robotics side of the system to help develop Ford’s “virtual driver system.”

Argo AI plans to hire 200 more employees to get the job done. A possible enticement when it comes to recruitment is that employees could have equity stake in the company. "They have the opportunity to run it pretty independently with a board, but because it is a separate company or subsidiary, it has the opportunity to go out and recruit with competitive compensation packages and equity,” Ford Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields says at a press conference.

‘Stranger Things’ crew gets tips from ‘Game of Thrones’ creators on how to protect against leaks

Stranger Things became such a surprise success that its crew needed tips from another extremely popular show on how to go about things moving forward. According to an interview by Entertainment Weekly with Stranger Things creators, they had to approach the producers of Game of Thrones on what to do when it comes to security protocols. “We literally consulted with the producers on Game of Thrones to learn security protocols,” say executive producer Shawn Levy. “I just knew I used to throw my sides away and now they have to be burnt,” says co-creator Ross Duffer of his daily shooting notes. The cast and the show itself now even gets code names. According to Millie Bobby Brown a.k.a. Eleven, “It’s this weird thing. On the call sheets our names are across it and if we lose it, we’re dead.”

Now, they’re hyperaware of the measures they need to take to make sure no spoilers get out. “We had no security protocols last season and we have extensive security protocols this season, Levy says. “I can’t speak about what they are because then people could crack them. We protect every story point, every page of every script.” 

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New handy Instant Tethering feature for Android comes to Pixel and Nexus devices

New handy Instant Tethering feature for Android comes to Pixel and Nexus devices

One of the things we expect from our gadgets is that they just work. No need to toggle anything, they just have to work. Google is turning that into a reality with its own devices. Called Instant Tethering, the feature will let a select number of devices instantly use the same cellular data connection of a smartphone when it sees that there is a connection and sufficient battery life. At the moment the feature is available to any Pixel, Pixel XL, Nexus 6, Nexus 5X, or Nexus 6P running Android 7.1.1. All the aforementioned smartphones can serve as the host for another support device as long as it’s signed into the same Google account. You don’t even need to turn on the hotspot anymore or input any passwords, it’ll just work.

And you don’t even have to shut it off, too. When 10 minutes have passed when you last used a device that tethered to your smartphone, it’ll cut off the connection itself. Saving battery is something Google is paying attention, too. While this isn’t the first time tech manufacturers have done this. It’s good we have one more option. And hopefully more tech companies follow suit.

Source: The Verge