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 ]
OLIVER MORTON’S The Moon is a masterpiece of science journalism that throws fresh light on its eponymous subject. Morton mines fields as diverse as aerospace science, history, astrobiology, mythology, geology, and science fiction in pursuit of lessons the Moon can teach us about space... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-03-06 20:00:57 UTC ]
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The book is a sumptuous scrapbook of photographs, magazine covers, artwork and hundreds of articles. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-04 17:19:27 UTC ]
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THE WORMWOOD PLANT is ornamental and used as an ingredient in absinthe. The plant is enticing to smell and adamantly bitter to taste. It will refuse to leave your tongue even after you try to chase it away with sweeter flavors. It will stay with you, like a curse. The science fiction Wormwood... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-02-29 20:00:42 UTC ]
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EPIC IS THE WAY: "The Mandalorian" has proven to be a big hit for Disney and its streaming service, Disney+ – and a Cary company helps make the magic come to life on the screen. Epic Games is helping Lucasfilm produce what design, tech and science fiction site Gizmodo called "real-time digital... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2020-02-24 18:26:44 UTC ]
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Congratulations to the finalists for the annual Nebula Awards! Presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, these awards have been celebrating writers working in the genres for the past fifty-five years. (Past recipients include N. K. Jemisin and Jeff VanderMeer.) This year’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-20 20:54:28 UTC ]
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This month, science fiction fans and Solaris lovers everywhere have cause to celebrate: six newly-illustrated editions of work by the late Polish author Stanisław Lem (1921-2006) are being published by The MIT Press. Lem’s influence on science fiction has been compared to that of authors like... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-20 16:57:37 UTC ]
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It’s an exciting year for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes! This will be its 40th year of celebrating the literary community. The Times announced their 2019 Book Prize finalists today; the winners will be announced at a ceremony in Los Angeles on April 17th. Additionally, bestselling crime... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-19 17:41:26 UTC ]
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Psychologists have stigmatised science fiction fans as losers who retreat into fantasy worlds. This is unfair. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2020-02-18 10:26:09 UTC ]
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A reader new to science fiction and fantasy embraces the genre and explores some of the great new works of SFF on shelves now. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-02-17 11:40:18 UTC ]
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20 of the best audiobooks narrated by black women, including fiction, classics, science fiction and fantasy, memoir, essays, and poetry. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-02-14 11:38:06 UTC ]
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Yesterday afternoon, amid a busy news Sunday on multiple fronts, the basketball legend Kobe Bryant died in California, and our media took a sharp collective breath. Bryant, who was 41, was killed in a helicopter crash near Calabasas, close to LA. Eight other people died, including Bryant’s... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-01-27 12:59:58 UTC ]
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‘Do You Compute?’ investigates how technology went from being written off as science fiction to something we engage with every day. In the years following the end of World War II, computers were just starting to make their way into the public consciousness. The intimidatingly technical devices... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2020-01-27 09:00:47 UTC ]
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WILLIAM GIBSON NOTICES THINGS others miss. While his science fiction novels are often described as prescient, what defines Gibson’s body of work is the extraordinary refinement of his focus on the present. When everyone is talking about the features of the latest Silicon Valley gadget, he might... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-01-25 13:30:33 UTC ]
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Decades of science fiction assured us all that, yes, one day we'd be able to control the immensely complex gadgetry around us with just our voices. It was right, mostly. The rise of the virtual assistant, built atop still other developments in cloud... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2020-01-23 16:30:00 UTC ]
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Christopher Tolkien helped edit and publish much of J.R.R. Tolkien's work after the science fiction and fantasy writer died in 1973. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-01-17 19:03:20 UTC ]
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A young writer wrote a controversial bit of military science fiction about sexual politics. The fallout was nuclear. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2020-01-17 14:00:00 UTC ]
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We're in a new golden age of science fiction, especially science fiction short stories. These are some of the best stories you can read right now online. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-01-09 11:35:44 UTC ]
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“Alternate history, in my opinion, is a more demanding game,” says the author of “Agency” and other science fiction novels, “if only because conventional historical fiction, like history, is itself highly speculative.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-01-09 10:00:07 UTC ]
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Yes, much of it looks at how we will survive the apocalypse. But we also have the more hopeful genre of solarpunk Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-01-06 23:50:02 UTC ]
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If you're in the mood for a ragtag spaceship crew or queer superheroes living their best lives, check out this list of the best LGBT science fiction books. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-01-06 11:39:51 UTC ]
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