Geothermal energy + more things

3 minutes estimated reading time

Swedish technology could make geothermal energy as mainstream as wind and solar | Quartz – interesting because it deals with the lumpy supply issue of wind and solar in the energy mix. Geothermal energy is closer to the steady production of nuclear or coal fired power stations operated in an optimal manner. Although geothermal energy has been well understood for decades, a key problem has been keeping the fissures open that geothermal energy relies on to create steam.

UK cash system ‘on the verge of collapse’, report finds | Money | The Guardian – putting the Queen on debit cards anyone?

Rone artist takeover of hotel site | ABC – right strategic approach to build buzz but wrong vision

Audi hasn’t forgotten about fuel cells – Roadshow – which makes a lot more infrastructure sense than electric charging due to energy density benefits

Jibo Is Probably Totally Dead Now – IEEE Spectrum – The servers for Jibo the social robot are apparently shutting down. Multiple owners report that Jibo himself has been delivering the news: “Maybe someday when robots are way more advanced than today, and everyone has them in their homes, you can tell yours that I said hello.” – that’s probably the saddest thing I’ve heard in robotics since I learned about Sony Aibo Mk ! device owners having Shinto funerals for them when they gave up the ghost. It also shows the flaw in cloud connected consumer products

Europe’s AI start-ups often do not use AI, study finds | Financial TimesTwo-fifths of Europe’s artificial intelligence start-ups do not use any AI programs in their products, according to a report that highlights the hype around the technology. The research by London-based investment firm MMC Ventures could not find any evidence, based on public information and interviews with executives, of artificial intelligence applications at 40 per cent of 2,830 AI start-ups in Europe (paywall)

The Aldi effect: how one discount supermarket transformed the way Britain shops | Business | The GuardianThe checkout assistants, who had been trained to memorise the price of every item in the store, were so fast that shoppers experienced what some would come to call “Aldi panic” – the fear that you cannot pack your goods quickly enough.

Flickr dumps despised Yahoo login system – CNET – gosh when I remember how controversial the move to Yahoo! ID was for flickr users back in March 2007. It was a defining moment in the community and its obvious that grudge has continued to be held by old skool users

Huawei Said to Be Preparing to Sue the U.S. Government – The New York Times – interesting move to try and get the US government to show its hand, on the other hand the US government can just go over case studies like T-Mobile and the African Union hacking as evidence

Revealed: Facebook’s global lobbying against data privacy laws | Technology | The Guardian – Shock horror Facebook lobbyists aren’t just bag carriers but actually do their job

Bollinger Motors: a Refreshingly Traditional 4×4 Company • Gear PatrolWhile other manufacturers fetishize connectivity, Bollinger Motors plans to sever the digital connection. The B1 and B2 won’t offer autonomous capability. There are no current plans for a digital cloud infrastructure. The trucks will have manual windows and door locks. Driving a B1 or B2 won’t be a pure ascetic throwback. You’ll be able to connect your phone to the stereo. But, the goal is to offer an escape. That reads to me like a new definition of automotive luxury.

UK unicorn Revolut is fighting back after its week from hell | Business Insider – I expect to see many more exposes like this

Read Pornhub Launches Safe for Work Category that Features Videos without Nudity | Pornhub – interesting that PornHub is branching into SFW (suitable for work) content and that this move seems to be inspired by Starbucks putting a porn filter on its free wifi. Unfortunately Pornhub’s ad vendor Traffic Junky keeps showing NSFW material on the page and you have to wonder about brand safety with Pornhub relying on a creator submitted SFW tag which doesn’t police NSFW content within it. More media related content here.