Back in 2021, the New York Police Department (NYPD) cancelled a planned deployment of the Spot robot dog [aka "Digidog"] following a public backlash. Now, New York City's current law and order mayor Eric Adams has brought the robot dog back for use in "hazardous situations," The New York Times has reported. "Digidog is out of the pound," Adams said at a press conference yesterday in Times Square.The NYPD will acquire two of the robots for $750,000 and only use them in hostage and other critical situations. "I believe that technology is here; we cannot be afraid of it,” Adams said. “A few loud people were opposed to it, and we took a step back [but] that is not how I operate. I operate on looking at what’s best for the city."Spot/Digidog is built by Hyundai's Boston Dynamics, and is designed to be used in dangerous situations like security and inspections. It was also tested for use in combat by the French army, primarily for reconnaissance.During its previous tour of duty with the NYPD, police used Spot to gather information about a gunmen barricaded inside a building. On another occasion it was deployed during a home invasion, also to give officers eyes inside the house. After critics brought up potential concerns over surveillance and privacy, however, then-mayor Bill de Blasio elected to cancel a $94,000 lease on Spot. "It’s creepy, alienating and sends the wrong message to New Yorkers," a city spokesperson said at the time. Along with Digidog, the NYPD announced... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2023-04-12 06:19:27 UTC ]
Jaeger’s 1920s novels, ‘The Question Mark’ and ‘The Man With Six Senses,’ are H.G. Wellsian works of love and science. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-03-24 16:24:26 UTC ]
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As China’s science fiction authors are elevated to the status of oracles, Qiufan’s career—and his genre’s place in society—have gone through the looking glass. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2021-03-09 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The parasites, hybrids, and vampires of her science fiction make the price of persisting viscerally real. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2021-03-08 11:00:00 UTC ]
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The legacy of science fiction author Octavia Butler is to be explored at the Barbican's New Suns feminist literary festival this month. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-04 07:24:31 UTC ]
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The awards recognize outstanding literary achievements in 12 categories, including the Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, with winners to be announced April 16. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-03-02 15:00:14 UTC ]
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This new form of mobility will be very different from our current reality, which provides some unique design opportunities. The future of urban air mobility is often represented in utopian images. A wealth of fanciful renderings show flying vehicles taking off and landing vertically from... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2021-02-24 08:00:33 UTC ]
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Many of our favorite books are better as films. Other times, it’s better to stick with the book. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-02-23 17:17:00 UTC ]
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MANY HISTORIES OF CYBERPUNK emphasize its literary precursors — its borrowings from hard-boiled detective fiction, for example, or the proto-cyberpunk elements in the science fiction of writers such as Alfred Bester, John Brunner, Samuel R. Delany, Philip K. Dick, James Tiptree Jr., and others.... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-02-20 16:00:16 UTC ]
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Science fiction has often had an inspirational and positive relationship with space endeavors. But the new US Space Force is struggling with a pop culture public relations problem. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2021-02-19 13:20:06 UTC ]
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In short stories like “The Immortals” and novels like “The Listeners,” Mr. Gunn helped prepare readers for the future. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-11 17:10:44 UTC ]
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Tevis wrote science fiction greats like “The Man Who Fell to Earth” and the overlooked “Mockingbird.” Also, “The Hustler.” Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-02-03 17:15:28 UTC ]
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Find some immersive, out-of-this-world stories featuring LGBTQ+ characters in these excellent queer science fiction books. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-02-02 11:32:00 UTC ]
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“The Absolute Book,” by Elizabeth Knox, takes on a number of genres, while “Winter’s Orbit,” by Everina Maxwell, stays true to one. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-29 10:00:04 UTC ]
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Do you love your science fiction with a heaping side of humor? You’ve come to the right place! Pick up these funny sci-fi books, including Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-01-28 11:38:00 UTC ]
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If you’re on the hunt for new literary rabbit holes, today is your lucky day. The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction, created by lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower (a former editor of both the OED and Random House Dictionaries) is “a comprehensive quotation-based dictionary of the language of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-27 16:14:09 UTC ]
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The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction turns a century of neologisms (and neosemes!) into a redefintion of the genre. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2021-01-27 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The new online Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction probes the speculative corners of the lexicographic universe. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-26 12:01:06 UTC ]
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At the London Review of Books, Colin Burrow reflects on how Ursula K. Le Guin‘s narrative prowess flourished within the constraints of science fiction and children’s literature. “Fiction needs the unruly energies of indeterminacy,” Burrow writes, “of being partly inside the mind of the reader,... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2021-01-20 21:30:12 UTC ]
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“Vellum” by Hal Duncan, “Mockingbird,” by Walter Tevis, the works of Tanith Lee and more. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-01-13 14:00:00 UTC ]
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Police in Shanghai say a suspect has been detained in the death by possible poisoning of the billionaire founder of a Chinese video game company that is producing films based on popular science fiction novel “The Three-Body Problem.” Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2020-12-28 14:47:02 UTC ]
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