Microsoft Releases PowerShell 7 for Windows, macOS and Linux

Microsoft has announced that its cross-platform automation tool and configuration framework PowerShell 7 is now generally available. From a report: Available for Windows, macOS and Linux, PowerShell 7 sees Microsoft moving from .NET Core 2.x to 3.1 which enables greater backwards compatibility with existing Windows PowerShell modules thanks to the resurrection of numerous .NET Framework APIs. The cross-platform nature of PowerShell…

Will The Next Job Impacted By Automation Be App Development?

Leading CIOs, CTOs and technology executives on the “Forbes Technology Council” just made some predictions for the future:
Now that the business world has seen the power of automation, the question has become, “What’s next?” The members of Forbes Technology Council are constantly looking out for new tech trends, and they believe the next jobs to be impacted by automation might not…

New California Bill Proposes $1,000-a-Month Universal Basic Income

1 out of 8 Americans live in California. Now a proposed California law “would provide most adults in the state with a universal basic income of $1,000 per month, similar to the proposed plan of former presidential candidate Andrew Yang,” reports Newsweek: The California Universal Basic Income (UBI) Program was Funding the program with a value-added tax has been blasted by…

What’s new on Coursera for Business – January 2020

By Kyle Clark, Senior Skills Transformation Consultant 2020 is already proving to be an exciting year for skill development on Coursera. Our university and industry partners launched over 60 courses in January – an average of 2 courses per day. Our new courses range in topic from IT automation and feature engineering to visual analytics, […]
The post What’s new on Coursera…

Andrew Yang Drops Out of Presidential Race

Andrew Yang, tech entrepreneur and founder of Venture for America, will end his campaign for president after a disappointing showing in the New Hampshire primary. The Washington Post reports: “I am a numbers guy,” Yang said in an interview before addressing supporters at Manchester’s Puritan Backroom. “In most of these [upcoming] states, I’m not going to be at a threshold where…

New Database Showcases How Algorithms Are Rewriting Government Policies Around the US

v3rgEz writes: Every day government decisions from bus routes to policing used to be based on limited information and human judgment. Governments now use the ability to collect and analyze hundreds of data points everyday to automate many of their decisions. The non-profit MuckRock, in partnership with Rutgers Institute for Information Policy and Law, has a database detailing how local governments…

Welfare Surveillance System Violates Human Rights, Dutch Court Rules

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: A Dutch court has ordered the immediate halt of an automated surveillance system for detecting welfare fraud because it violates human rights, in a judgment likely to resonate well beyond the Netherlands. The case was seen as an important legal challenge to the controversial but growing use by governments around the world…

Japanese Robot Could Call Last Orders on Human Bartenders

Japan’s first robot bartender has begun serving up drinks in a Tokyo pub in a test that could usher in a wave of automation in restaurants and shops struggling to hire staff in an aging society. From a report: The repurposed industrial robot serves drinks in is own corner of a Japanese pub operated by restaurant chain Yoronotaki. An attached tablet…

2009 Crash of Boeing 737 NG Now Receiving New Scrutiny

Slashdot reader JoeyRox shares a disturbing story about a Boeing 737 NG flight carrying 128 passengers that crashed in 2009, killings its three pilots, another crew member and five passengers. But “the Dutch investigators focused blame on the pilots for failing to react properly when an automated system malfunctioned and caused the plane to plummet into a field,” the New York…

Oregon Supreme Court Approves Measure To Limit Self-Checkout Lanes

nickwinlund77 shares a report from Corvallis Gazette-Times: A petition to limit each grocery store to two self-checkout kiosks can move forward to signature gathering for a state ballot measure. On Friday, the Oregon Supreme Court certified the attorney general’s description of the proposed measure. Backers need 112,020 signatures to get to voters’ ballots in November. Filed in July, Initiative Petition 41…