Ep.88 N:OW.2024.NOV19 Starship6, Waymo LA, Rat Drivers, Police Body Cams, Leech Needles

StarShip Delivers, Autonomous Waymo Taxi in LA LA Land, Student Rodent Drivers, Seeing through the Smoke, Predictive Policing and Body Cams, Tired of Needles? Try Leach Tech..
Wouldn’t you know, Starship 6 takes off during our show, so naturally it’s in our lineup today!
Starship 6 successfully launches to space from its Texas pad.
And heads up if you are looking for an inexpensive DIY way of running your home on solar!  Waymo is in the news with LA now being served by their autonomous robot taxis! Its nice to be driven about, but this week we also pay homage to those who enjoy the act of driving, which, surprisingly,  goes beyond our species; it turns out rodents enjoy driving as well! And then there is the turtle on a skateboard..
 
And who says our upcoming humanoid robots need exactly the same senses as us, especially when they can have Pano Radar, enabling them to see clearly through smoke, fire, and fog. If one day my robot needs to rescue me from a wildfire, I’d want hir to see clearly what she is doing!  
 
Turns out rodents like to drive! photo-Greg Panos
The ethics of predictive policing are up again, this time in the context of analyzing data from thousands of police bodycams.  The data may help us predict who and where crime may occur, but at what cost to our privacy?  And do you have a fear of needles? 
Or how about some AI headphones that can put you in a sound bubble, enhancing what you want to hear around you, excluding what you don’t?
There’s a new blood draw in town, more like a leech than a mosquito in its approach to collecting our precious bodily fluids! It works great, and kinda ‘sucks.’ Enjoy.
New leech-like device to suck blood for sampling instead of needling