This Week in Tech

Apple Plans to Scan US iPhones for Child Abuse Imagery

Apple Plans to Scan US iPhones for Child Abuse Imagery

Apple intends to install software on American iPhones to scan for child abuse imagery, according to people briefed on its plans, raising alarm among security researchers who warn that it could open the door to surveillance of millions of people’s personal devices…


Home Depot Plans to Foil Shoplifters With Power Tools That Won’t Work if They’re Stolen

The home-improvement chain is unveiling power tools that won’t work unless they’re properly scanned and activated at the register via Bluetooth technology. If a thief managed to smuggle a power drill out of the store without paying, the drill simply wouldn’t turn on…


Ikea’s First Smart Air Purifier Comes Camouflaged as a Side Table

Ikea continues to take the invisible approach to its smart home gadgets by camouflaging them as other things. Its new Starkvind smart air purifier is available in two versions, but the better of the pair is cleverly disguised as a small end table, so in addition to removing unwanted particles from the air, you can also use it as storage for unwanted coffee table books and knick-knacks…


Scientists Created an Artificial Neuron That Actually Retains Electronic Memories

The brain’s ultra-high efficiency is contingent upon a base unit we know and love as the neuron, which consists of a neuron with nanometric pores called ion channels. These channels alternatively close and open depending on the stimuli, but the ion flows resulting from this process generate an electric current, one that emits action potentials, which are the crucial signals that let neurons communicate betwixt one another. Artificial intelligence (AI) can do it, too. But AI takes a lot more energy — tens of thousands of times more, to be precise. This is why the modern challenge for researchers in the field is to design and build electronic systems that rival the energy efficiency of the human brain…


Aerospace Startup Gets $60M From the US Air Force to Build Hypersonic Passenger Plane

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force and several venture capital firms are making a $60 million investment in Hermeus Corporation, a Georgia-based startup that wants to develop the world’s first reusable hypersonic aircraft…


Pentagon Believes Its Precognitive AI Can Predict Events ‘Days in Advance’

The US military’s AI experiments are growing particularly ambitious. The Drive reports that US Northern Command recently completed a string of tests for Global Information Dominance Experiments (GIDE), a combination of AI, cloud computing and sensors that could give the Pentagon the ability to predict events “days in advance,” according to Command leader General Glen VanHerck. It’s not as mystical as it sounds, but it could lead to a major change in military and government operations…


This New Tokyo Café Has Robot Waiters Controlled Remotely by Disabled Workers

On June 22, Tokyo’s latest café run by robots officially opened in Nihonbashi. Unlike Shinjuku’s Robot Restaurant, where humans dressed as robots put on a dinner show, Dawn Avatar Robot Café features real humanoid robots waiting on customers and serving food and drink. It’s not a gimmick, though: the café operates as an accessible business by creating more job opportunities for disabled workers…