Boston Dynamics Is Selling its 70-Pound Robot Dog To Police Departments

The New York Times reports on what the city’s police department calls Digidog, “a 70-pound robotic dog with a loping gait, cameras and lights affixed to its frame, and a two-way communication system that allows the officer maneuvering it remotely to see and hear what is happening.”
Police said the robot can see in the dark and assess how safe it is…

Firefox 85 Isolated Supercookies, But Dropped Progressive Web App Support

Tech blogger Paul Thurrott writes:
Firefox 85 now protects users against supercookies, which Mozilla says is “a type of tracker that can stay hidden in your browser and track you online, even after you clear cookies. By isolating supercookies, Firefox prevents them from tracking your web browsing from one site to the next.” It also includes small improvements to bookmarks and password…

Upskilling During Difficult Times: How Do We Keep Employees Learning from Home?

By Rich Jacquet, Coursera Chief People Officer What is the future of learning and development? The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly and dramatically disrupted workforces around the world, leading to changes in the very fabric of how we work, collaborate, and learn on the job. Companies are adapting by streamlining workforces and shifting to remote models. […]
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Education and Coronavirus: Lessons From Emergency Remote Teaching

By Matthew Rascoff In recent months, almost every university in the world has shifted to emergency remote teaching—a kind of “first aid” for higher education in a pandemic. When the Chinese government closed all higher education institutions in early February, Duke Kunshan University (DKU) in Kunshan, China, was among the first universities to make this […]
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Boston Dynamics Open-Sources Health Care Robotics Toolkit, Sends ‘Spot’ Robot To Help Hospitals Remotely Treat COVID-19 Patients

watha2020 writes: Spot, the four-legged robot made famous by its YouTube dance video, is being tested as a remote triage system at Boston’s Brigham Women’s Hospital. A Spot robot carrying an iPad allows doctors to interview possibly infected patients at a safe distance. [Spot is also carrying a pouch near the robot’s “tail,” which allows it to deliver small items such…

Hospitals Deploy AI Tools To Detect COVID-19 on Chest Scans

Deep learning algorithms can diagnose, triage, and monitor coronavirus cases from lung images. Next, can they predict who will need a ventilator? From a report: AI-powered analysis of chest scans has the potential to alleviate the growing burden on radiologists, who must review and prioritize a rising number of patient chest scans each day, experts say. And in the future, the…