Scientists at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have created a robotic fish called the SoFi. This robot actually does have some of the same characteristics as a fish. Its color, size, and tail slightly resembling a fish making it be able to swim next to other fish while not scaring them. The SoFi fish is used to capture actions of fish that we as humans may have never been able to see because we cannot be underwater for long periods of time and since humans can only swim so deep in water.

This robot fish captures these moments by recording videos through lenses that are built into the robot. Above the water, a human diver controls the movements of the fish. The MIT teams that in the future SoFi may be able to make decisions without the human diver.

After watching various documentaries about fish in school, I am very familiar with the amazing content that us as humans can capture of fish. I find it amazing how this team from MIT was able to create a robot that can help capture moments that we have never seen before, while also not affecting the fish. This will allow divers to capture more natural videos of the fish.

I feel that there are a lot of bad thoughts when new technology is created, but this robot shows some of the amazing moments that can be captured with the created of new technology. I cannot wait to see the changes that they make to SoFi in the future and all the experiences that it captures.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/21/technology/mit-fish-robot/index.html

Even with Netflix’s recent price increase, they have just hit 125 million subscribers. They are performing better in both their earnings and are increasing their subscribers at a faster rate than they ever thought imaginable. Since the beginning of 2018, Netflix has added more than 7.4 million subscribers to their company. Most of these new subscribers are from outside of the United States because of Netflix’s expansion in their collection of shows and movies.

Knowing that Netflix is starting to expand to other countries and are now focusing on adding new content to their company makes me excited to see which shows will be added. In the past year, I have been disappointed with a few of their decisions to take down TV shows that I have watched in the past. However, with their subscriber and price increase, I believe that these earnings will allow them to add more content that is both of my interest and others all around the world. I am an avid Netflix user since I do not watch cable TV in college. Netflix is a lot cheaper for me to have than buying a TV and cable, and I find this to be the case with a lot of college students. When I finish one show I am always excited to see what new show I can watch. Recently, it has been hard for me to find a show to watch that really grabs my interest because I have watched so many series. This article gets me excited to see what content will be added to their company since they have committed $17.9 billion to streaming content deals and are expected to have 700 programs to watch. It will be interesting to see how much Netflix will grow in the coming months.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/16/technology/netflix-earnings/index.html

Nike has just released its 3D printed new shoe called the Zoom Vaporfly Elite Flyprint sneaker. This shoe can be worn by anyone but it was specifically made for marathon runners because of how light it was and because of its carbon fiber plate in the midsole that increases the amount of spring in a person’s step. Since it is 3D printed with thermoplastic urethane plastic is does not absorb water. This helps marathon runners not have to worry about their shoes absorbing water and making each step heavier when it rains. Not only is the material of this shoe not absorbent of water it is also very flexible and light.

The Flyprint does not allow water absorb in two different ways. First, it’s material, TUP, does not absorb any water since it is plastic. It also does not allow this because it is 3D printed with many holes in it. These thousands of tiny holes allow water to go into the show, but also allows water to be let out so it doesn’t stay trapped inside of the shoe

3D printing plays a huge role in the success of this shoe. It allows Nike to be able to manipulate this shoe in any way that they want to. Through trial and error, they can see what works and what doesn’t and they can print a new one if one fails.

I find this article very interesting since we are working on our final project in IST110 and it has to do with 3D printing. It is amazing the different type of materials that you can 3D print with and how easy is it to 3D print as long as you have the right tools, equiptment, and software. This Zoom Vaporfly Elite Flyprint sneaker can have a huge impact on marathon runners. I hope to see more innovative 3D prints being created for athletics and other people over the next few years.

https://www.popsci.com/nike-3d-printed-sneakers#page-3

A startup company called Zipline in Rwanda has recently been using its delivery drones to help save peoples lives. These drones are one of the world’s fastest commercial delivery drones, which allows its cargo to get from one place to another efficiently and quickly. In the past, these drones were used to transport things like packages of blood products but is now expanding to deliver products that counteract snake bites, antiretroviral drugs for HIV patients, and rabies prophylaxis treatments which help people that have been bitten by certain animals. These products are soon going to be available to the whole country of Rwanda. However, these drones do more than just deliver these products quickly and save lives, they also help reduce the amount of inventory that each hospital needs to hold of a certain item. This helps cut down waste or spoilage of some of these products which helps in the long run to save more patients.

Thankfully, this Zipline delivery drone may be making its way to American in the future. It has already started to delivery products in the country of Tanzania and is in the works in talking to several states about launching this drone as long as it is approved by the FAA.

I would love to see this product come to the United States. It has the potential to save thousands to millions of lives because of its fast delivery. I think that a lot of people nowadays think that technology is a bad thing that people try to hack or hurt you with or it is just a way for companies to get you to buy things. This shows me the good that technology can do. I hope that in the future that these drones will be able to carry even more products like organs to hospitals. These drones can make a huge impact not just in the United States, but around the entire world.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/lovesick-cyborg/2018/04/03/fastest-delivery-drone-starts-lifesaving-flights/#.Ws0GoyPMzow

In the LiveScience article, Brandon Specktor talks about how a Pedestrian was killed by an Uber self-driving car in Arizona. A 49-year old woman was crossing the street on a Sunday night when the self-driving car struck her. Unforuntantly she did not survive her injuries. There was a human safety driver inside this vehicle. However, neither the driver nor the self-driving car detected the pedestrian.

This proposed the question: how safe is this evolving technology? It is hard to tell since there was an actual human safety in the car as well. In the article, it is stated by Peter Hancock that “more than 90 percent of car crashes in the U.S. are thought to involve some sort of driver error.” In this case, one might say that a self-driving car may be better because it may eliminate these errors but after this tragedy, it is hard to tell if either a human driver or an autonomous car can stop things like this from happening. However, studies have shown that crashes involving self-driving vehicles often have to do with unpredictable or even distracted human behavior. For example, the only other time a person has been killed by a self-driving car with a human safety driver in it was when a tractor-trailer swerved in front of the car and the breaks did not engage fast enough.

I personally do not believe that I will use a self-driving car in the near future. However, this is not because I believe that I would be risking my life while in one, but it is more of a personal preference. Individual behaviors are always an issue when someone is operating a vehicle. At times a person’s behavior is so unpredictable that not even a sensor on a self-driving car or a human eye can react fast enough. Even though situation in this article was very tragic it did not make me think that we should get rid of self-driving cars. If we did that then we might as well get rid of cars altogether.

Source: https://www.livescience.com/62070-driverless-car-kills-pedestrian-tempe-safety.html