This Robot Can Do Construction Work

Tech Crunch writes: “The HRP-5P is a humanoid robot from Japan’s Advanced Industrial Science and Technology institute that can perform common construction tasks including  — install drywall.” I wonder if this opens up a new career field: Robotics repair and servicing. Or, will other robots do that as well? Check out the video.

TMO Background Mode Encore #5 Interview with Science Communicator Dr. Kiki Sanford

Dr. Kiki Sanford makes her fifth appearance on Background Mode. Kiki is a neurophysiologist with a Ph.D. from the University of California. She’s a popular science communicator and creator of This Week in Science (TWIS) podcast and radio show. In this episode, we chat about some some recent topics discussed on TWIS that fascinated me. 1) Yale roboticists have developed skins with embedded actuators that can turn just about anything into robots. 2) A 127 million year old fossil was discovered in China that fills in another gap in the story of how dinosaurs became birds. 3) The new NASA exoplanet search mission, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), is operational. We talk about its mission and how it compares to the Kepler spacecraft. This is just a sample; we covered much more cool science stuff.

Would a BDSM Robot Violate Asimov's Laws of Robotics?

Would a BDSM robot violate Isaac Asimov’s first law of robotics? Gizmodo asked lawyers, ethicists, computer scientists, and philosophers.

Before you can get yourself sexually trussed, whipped or choked by a large piece of machinery, we as a culture will need to reckon with—among many, many other things—Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics. These laws state explicitly, right at the top, that “a robot may not injure a human being.”

It’s a hilarious and interesting view on sex robots and how a robot would perceive harm.

About Russia's Mobile Hackers: Hotel Wi-Fi Spying from a Rental Car

Wired has a detailed report about Russia’s mobile hackers, a team that traveled the world hacking and spying as part of Vladimir Putin’s state-sponsored payback. The mobile team often packed a rental car with various bits of equipment, operated around the world, and worked with a support team back in Russia. It’s a very interesting piece, and as John Kheit quipped, it demonstrates how one should “seriously never use public Wi-Fi.” Here’s a snippet:

The US Department of Justice charged seven hackers working for the Russian military agency GRU with carrying out a vast intrusion campaign against a wide range of organizations. The targets include anti-doping agencies in Colorado, Brazil, Canada, Monaco and Switzerland, part of a retaliatory leaking campaign after Russia was accused of doping ahead of the 2016 and 2018 Olympics; the Westinghouse Electric Company’s nuclear power operations, which supplies nuclear fuel to Ukraine; and the Spiez chemical testing laboratory in Switzerland and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in the Netherlands, likely due to their investigations into the Novichok gas attack on a Russian intelligence defector in the UK earlier this year.

iOS 12 Protects You Against Fake Keyboards

Redditor u/p_giguere1 found out that iOS 12 can protect you against fake keyboards.

To trigger the warning: open a webpage in full-screen mode, for example a full-screen video on YouTube’s mobile website. Then tap several times at the bottom of the screen, as if you were typing on an invisible keyboard.

A warning message will appear telling you the website may be showing you a fake keyboard to trick you into disclosing personal or financial information.

I haven’t been able to trigger this, but the OP and a commenter shared screenshots that appear legitimate.