Sometimes the future shows up so fast it hits us in the face, like a brick wall in a VR headset. Other times the miraculous promises of technology—the rearrangement of our very DNA, the blockchain-enabled toppling of Facebook—are frustratingly slow to arrive. But either way, the future is coming, and we should be ready. In the following pages we lay out a series of predictions, starting with some changes that are immediately upon us. Then, looking down the road, we get ever-bolder in our prognostications, year by not-so-far-off year. —The Editors Cyberattacks Will Hit a Power Grid Near You Hackers who disable power grids and detonate gas pipelines have been the villains of popular cyberparanoia for decades. Until recently, they were as easy to dismiss as Die Hard’s Bruce Willis–thwarted infrastructural cyberpocalypse, circa 2007. But hackers are starting to catch up with Hollywood. High Alert Over the past few years, each of these … [Read more...] about WIRED’S Predictions for Bots, Blockchains, Crispr, and More
Following a Tuna from Fiji to Brooklyn—on the Blockchain
I had just learned everything there was to know about the fish in front of me. Now, a small part of its fleshy, red body was in my mouth. Five minutes earlier, I saw a video showing the waters in Fiji where it was caught, where it traveled on ice, and how exactly it ended up inside a sushi hand roll. The massive yellowfin tuna had been tracked across the globe via the Ethereum blockchain. Each stop on the fish's journey, from the landing dock to the processing facility to the truck that drove it to Brooklyn, had been catalogued. The demonstration, organized by the startup Viant, was meant to showcase one of the potentially most compelling use cases for blockchain technology. A plethora of startups—as well as major companies like IBM and Walmart—are betting that the tech will change the way goods travel around the world. A blockchain is essentially a distributed chain of data entries that everyone can view and that can't be easily altered. In other words, blockchains are … [Read more...] about Following a Tuna from Fiji to Brooklyn—on the Blockchain
Engineers Don’t Totally Dig Elon Musk’s Tunneling Promises
If you’re a bit confused about Elon Musk’s plans to tunnel his way out of terrible LA traffic, you are not alone. Last week, Musk and his Boring Company, a venture devoted to speeding up and bringing down the costs of tunnel boring, sat down for an hour-long public informational meeting in a Los Angeles synagogue. The company theoretically chose the location because it is close to the proposed site for a 2.7-mile test tunnel in the city Sepulveda pass, where the Boring Company will test out (and maybe innovate) its new tunneling tech. The location had a strategic purpose, too: The meeting, held in the darkest moments of an LA rush hour, was a pain in ass to attend. “Wouldn’t it be better,” a quiet South African-accented voice might have whispered, “if you could jump inside a pod and go?” Musk’s vision, if realized, would do just that, allowing future Angelenos to evade the city’s infamous traffic by hopping aboard 16-passenger pods, … [Read more...] about Engineers Don’t Totally Dig Elon Musk’s Tunneling Promises
Microsoft releases yet another big update, this time for Windows 10 Fall Creators Update
Microsoft has just released another big cumulative update for an older version of Windows 10, with several fixes for last year’s Fall Creators Update.It’s not ben long since Microsoft released a pair of updates for the Windows 10 Creators Update and Anniversary Update, and it shows that while the company is currently focusing on the recently-released Windows 10 April 2018 Update, and the upcoming Redstone 5, it's still looking after people using older versions of its operating system.Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is also known as version 1709, and the new update is KB4103714. To download and install the update, go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and select ‘Check for updates’.It can also be downloaded manually from the Microsoft Update Catalog website.Update improvementsMicrosoft has also published a list of improvements and fixes for the cumulative update, and it’s pretty long.The fixes include addressing issues with updated … [Read more...] about Microsoft releases yet another big update, this time for Windows 10 Fall Creators Update
How controversial Theranos founder borrowed Steve Jobs’ look
In a forthcoming book, Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou details some of the ways that Holmes (the exec whose net worth was revised from $4.5 billion to zero after questions about the validity of her blood testing tools emerged) cribbed notes from Apple’s playbook. “Ana felt that Elizabeth could use a makeover herself. The way she dressed was decidedly unfashionable. She wore wide gray pantsuits and Christmas sweaters that made her look like a frumpy accountant. People in her entourage like Channing Robertson and Don Lucas were beginning to compare her to Steve Jobs. If so, she should dress the part, she told her. Elizabeth took the suggestion to heart. From that point on, she came to work in a black turtleneck and black slacks most days.” Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, currently available to pre-order on Amazon. Other Steve Jobs impersonators out there Holmes isn’t, of course, the only person to take notes from Jobs and … [Read more...] about How controversial Theranos founder borrowed Steve Jobs’ look
A real-time connection is key to IoT development
The Internet of Things (IoT) is increasingly becoming an integral feature of our daily business environment. More organisations are using devices in a distributed network to support the day-to-day running of the business in order to improve productivity, enhance customer service and reduce maintenance overheads.With the number of IoT devices expected to reach 125 billion by 2030, it is clear that many industries have already begun using them for critical business processes. It is therefore important that businesses understand as early as possible, the radically differing requirements of IoT devices, their criticality to the business and the implications for businesses that don’t get it right.The first crucial consideration for all businesses is to understand that different IoT devices have fundamentally different requirements. Some connected devices, such as wearables, do not need a sophisticated real-time connection with high bandwidth. These high latency devices typically send … [Read more...] about A real-time connection is key to IoT development
7 risk mitigation strategies for the cloud
Cloud services are here to stay, and they are taking over more enterprise functions every year. Where once cloud services were limited to simple storage or contact management, core functions like ERP have now moved to the cloud. And with a broad array of essential services increasingly shifting to the cloud, IT leaders must keep an eye on the risks inherent in today’s cloud environment and take preventative steps to mitigate them.Here’s a look at what your organization should do to assess and mitigate the risks of cloud computing.Assess your appetite for risk in the cloudIn the banking industry, it is common to set a risk appetite to guide organizational decisions. For example, a conservative risk appetite would lead one to decline lucrative but highly uncertain loans. A more “bleeding edge” risk appetite may deliver higher returns during booms. The downside? Your bank may take massive hits during the next crisis.From an IT management perspective, your risk … [Read more...] about 7 risk mitigation strategies for the cloud
OnePlus 6 faces off against the best smartphone cameras on the market
OnePlus phones have traditionally impressed with great performance, but camera quality has never been quite up to par with the otherwise great hardware powering OnePlus phones. This held especially true for the 5 and 5T, which never really managed to impress us with their camera game. However, things seem to be changing for the better with the OnePlus 6.With the OnePlus 6, you get a dual camera setup that combines a 16MP main camera with a 20MP secondary shooter. The main snapper has a 19% larger sensor than last year’s model and an f/1.7 lens, as well as OIS. The secondary camera is not stabilized and doesn’t have a longer focal length, but it’s to pull out more details in darker scenes and for shallow depth of field simulation (a.k.a the background blur used in portrait mode).Things have considerably improved over the OnePlus 5 and 5T, there’s no question about it, and this could even very well be the best camera ever on a OnePlus phone. But is it good enough … [Read more...] about OnePlus 6 faces off against the best smartphone cameras on the market
Replacement for Gigabyte GA-Z97-D3H-CF in 2018
I'll list what I've checked:1. Reinstalled Windows 72. Upgraded Windows 7 to Windows 103. Installed fresh Windows 104. Upgraded the GPU driver. 5. Downgraded the driver. 6. Changed Power Settings to High performance + PCI Express > Link State Power Management > Off6. Set Prefer maximum performance on Nvidia Control Panel 7. Tried Method 2 from https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2665946/-display-driver-stopped-responding-and-has-recovered-error-in-windows 8. Tried Method 3 from https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2665946/-display-driver-stopped-responding-and-has-recovered-error-in-windows 9. Cleaned the GPU fans10. Checked BIOS settings - didn't notice anything changed regarding PCI-E slot (all were set to 'Auto'). 11. Tried disabling the Intel Integrated GPU via Windows Device Manager and also directly from BIOS12. Checked GeForce GTS 450 128-bit (with 6pin power connector) in PCIE x16 with fresh Windows 713. Checked GeForce GTX 750 Ti 128-bit (powered only by PCIE … [Read more...] about Replacement for Gigabyte GA-Z97-D3H-CF in 2018
I7 7700k with a bigger cooler, will it really help?
really able to cool that optimally. Deliding would of course make it much better. Pretty much all around we've seen 10-20 degrees lower temps after delid, but this also means no more warranty and the risk or killing the CPU. Yeah, we've got way better tools now for deliding, but the chance is still there. … [Read more...] about I7 7700k with a bigger cooler, will it really help?