Textbooks in the digital world

Textbooks in the digital world Ella Russell, a second grade student at Jamestown Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia, works on an e-book during class. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin Kui Xie, The Ohio State University and Nicole Luthy, The Ohio State University For decades, textbooks were seen as the foundation for instruction in American schools. These discipline-specific…

What are digital social innovations?

Müge Ozman, Télécom École de Management – Institut Mines-Télécom and Cédric Gossart, Institut Mines-Télécom (IMT) One of the problems that we encounter in our research on digital social innovation (DSI) is related with defining it. Is it a catch-all phrase? A combination of three trendy words? Digital social innovations (DSI) are often associated with positive…

How secure are today’s ATMs? 5 questions answered

Using an ATM isn’t risk-free, but there’s a lot of security already. milicad/shutterstock.com Pradeep Atrey, University at Albany, State University of New York Editor’s note: Automated teller machines, better known as ATMs, are turning 50 on June 27. Computer science professor Pradeep Atrey, from the University at Albany, State University of New York, explains the…

How to make a driverless car ‘see’ the road ahead

Self-driving cars need to ‘see’ what’s going on around them. Intel/Mobileye Michael Milford, Queensland University of Technology and Jonathan Roberts, Queensland University of Technology Microchip manufacturer Intel has invested heavily in the driverless car race with the latest US$15 billion (A$19.5bn) purchase of Israeli tech company Mobileye. Mobileye develops sensors and intelligence technology behind automated…

Merging our brains with machines won’t stop the rise of the robots

Merging our brains with machines won’t stop the rise of the robots Michael Milford, Queensland University of Technology Tesla chief executive and OpenAI founder Elon Musk suggested last week that humanity might stave off irrelevance from the rise of the machines by merging with the machines and becoming cyborgs. However, current trends in software-only artificial…

Massive global ransomware attack highlights faults and the need to be better prepared

Wana Decrypt0r 2.0 Ransomware Screen. Avast David Glance, University of Western Australia A massive malware attack was launched on Friday, affecting at least 75,000 computers in 99 countries. Computers running Microsoft Windows were infected with “WanaCrypt0r 2.0 or WannaCry” ransomware. Once infected, all of the files on the computer are encrypted by the malware, which…

Driverless cars will change the way we think of car ownership

Driverless cars will change the way we think of car ownership This is her first car, and it may be the last one she owns. Shutterstock Hussein Dia, Swinburne University of Technology The transition to fully driverless cars is still several years away, but vehicle automation has already started to change the way we are…

Five reasons why you might be driving electric sooner than you think

The 155mph BMW i8 HYBRID might be beyond most of us, but it shows how far the electric drive sector has come. Motor Blog, Author provided Stephen Hall, University of Leeds There is huge potential for using electric vehicles to tackle climate change, give us cleaner air and grow the green economy. The question is,…