Goldman Sachs Has Invested In A Company That Could Replace Analysts With Algorithms

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-investment-in-kensho-2014-11

Goldman Sachs has just led a $15 million funding round for Kensho, a financial data service that should have analysts quaking in their boots. The company is seeking to replace equity analysts with software.

Google Ventures, Accel Partners, and CNBC are also some of Kensho's big investors, according to the Financial Times. 

Here's what Kensho is trying to do, in its own words:

Kensho harnesses massively-parallel statistical computing, user-friendly visual interfaces and breakthroughs in unstructured data engineering to create the next-generation analytics platform for investment professionals.

Addressing the most significant challenges surrounding investment analysis on Wall Street today — achieving speed, scale, and automation of previously human-intensive knowledge work — Kensho's intelligent computer systems are capable of answering complex financial questions posed in plain English, and in real-time. 

If Kensho's claims are accurate, it should send a shiver down the spine of every financial analyst and researcher. Previously, the huge and growing amount of data available hasn't harmed analysts — the numbers are often useless without some interpretation. But if that data can be interpreted automatically, it's bad news for researchers and analysts. They might not be needed anymore if a machine can do the interpreting faster and better.

This process isn't just something that's hitting analysts. White-collar jobs could be replaced by algorithms and robots all over the place. Computers and robotic automation have replaced a huge proportion of jobs in manufacturing and agriculture in the past hundred years, but the trend isn't likely to spare service-sector desk-based workers.

Platforms like Narrative Science ! have already started to do this with journalism, with firms' financial statements quickly turned into news articles by the software. The stories are often indistinguishable from regular human-written news. A combination of firms like Kensho and Narrative Science mean you could soon be reading an article written by a robot journalist, based on research done by a robot analyst. 

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This Machine Turns Water And CO2 Into Petrol

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-machine-turns-water-and-co2-into-petrol-1662123469

Despite all the efforts to the contrary, it's an uncomfortable truth that our world mostly still runs on oil, made from dead little creatures and pumped from under the ocean. So a machine that could generate oil, without the need for drills or rigs or pipelines, just by combining hydrogen and CO2, sounds quite attractive.

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3D Robotics' new drone can follow you around, carry a mirrorless camera

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/22/3d-robotics-x8-plus-drone/

3D Robotics is not about to let DJI hog all the press with its wild Inspire 1 Drone, so it just revealed its own semi-pro model: the X8+. The 8-prop UAV is designed to carry GoPro or lightweight mirrorless cameras, while offering a fully automated flight control system starting at $1,350 (without a gimbal or camera). That price may tempt pro or semi-pro users away from DJI's (admittedly cool), retractable gear model, which runs $2,900 with a built-in gimbal and 4K camera. But unlike DJI's turnkey drone, 3DR is positioning the X8+ as a customizable ship aimed not only at cinematographers, but surveyors or miners too.

The X8+ is an upgrade on the X8 model in nearly every way. It'll carry 800 grams (1.76 pounds) and fly up to 18 minutes, but if you're willing to sacrifice endurance, you can carry up to 2.2 pounds with, say, a mirrorless camera. 3D Robotics says it'll fly Blackmagic Design's Pocket Cinema Camera, for instance, which is rather heavy for its size at 350 grams (0.78 pounds). That means it'll easily work with Sony's mirrorless NEX cameras or compact models like Panasonic's LX100. For an extra $350, you can also kit it with an FPV GoPro liveview kit for easier scouting and aerial photography.

3D Robotics also has some interesting automation options for its latest drone. The X8+ can track you around while keeping you centered in your videos using the 3PV follow me mode, handy for filming your own sporty exploits. It also includes open source mission planning software compatible with most PCs and smartphones. Using the DroidPlanner 2 software, you can simply draw lines on a map with an Android device to fly it around, hands-free. You can even map a region-of-interest (ROI) waypoint, to keep the camera locked on a target throughout the flight.

While the X8+ starts at $1,350, it'll run a lot more to kit it up properly. With a carrying case, gimbal, 3DR FPV liveview for GoPro and a GoPro Hero 3+ camera, you'll be looking at nearly $2,600 -- or around $2,700 for 4K with the Hero 4. That's Inspire 1 territory, so choosing between the two may come down to a simple choice: do you need the DJI's unfettered 360 degree view, or the ability to use better cameras? Decisions, decisions.

Filed under: Robots

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Source: 3D Robotics

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drag2share: Chromecast works better with Chromebooks, looks better with NASA

source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/22/chromecast-chrome-os-nasa/?utm_source=Feed_Classic_Full&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget&?ncid=rss_full

After a few months of testing, the feature that allows Chrome OS users to stream videos from Google Drive storage -- like the free 1TB allotted to new owners -- to a Chromecast is now available to (almost) everyone. An update on the stable channel this week pushed it to most people, with the exception of a few devices: the Dell Chromebook 11, HP Chromebook 14, Acer C720 and the Toshiba Chromebook. One thing everyone with the Chromecast dongle can appreciate are additional backgrounds, this time provided by NASA. To access them, pop open the Chromecast app on your mobile device, select "Backdrop", go to settings and choose NASA.

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drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

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Here's a machine that turns water into synthetic gasoline

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/22/water-to-fuel/

Even with the amount of electric vehicles we've seen lately, it's likely going to be a long time until they completely replace traditional combustion engines on the road. So how are we going to get away from pricey fossil fuels until then? Well, water could be a possibility. German company Sunfire GmbH thinks it has the solution for turning H20 and carbon dioxide into liquid hyrdrocarbons like synthetic diesel, kerosene and petrol, according to CNET. It does this in part by using a combination of the Fischer-Tropsch process (a chemical reaction that performs the aforementioned transformation) and solid electrolyzer cells (fuel cells that produce gas forms of hydrogen and oxygen).

Sunfire says current systems run nearly 50 percent efficient, but there's potential to increase that to around 70 percent in the future. For comparison's sake, that current value is akin to a modern diesel engine, while gasoline motors only hit a paltry 14-to-30 percent efficiency rating. What's holding it back? The usual bureaucratic red tape. Sunfire says it needs regulatory factors to fall in a way which will give investors a "sufficient level of planning reliability" before it can move forward. So maybe don't get your hopes up too high just yet.

Filed under: Transportation, Science, Alt

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Via: CNET

Source: Sunfire GmbH (PDF)

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