1 US economy growth revised upwards (BBC) The US
economy grew at an annualised rate of 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2015,
according to official figures. The US Commerce Department revised its fourth
quarter GDP to upward from an initial estimate of 0.7%. Overall, the US economy
is estimated to have grown at a rate of 2.4% for all of 2015.
One reason for the revised figure was greater
consumer spending than officials initially thought, boosted by an improving
labour market. "It's especially good that we saw a boost in consumption,
however we are only talking about 1.4% growth, which is still anaemic compared
to the 3.5% we would like to see," said Dan North, chief economist at
Euler Hermes North America.
"The economy is still running in low
gear," he said. Increased employment has helped to slowly boost wages and
housing prices, while low oil prices have increased discretionary spending by
US households.
The stronger growth rate could increase the chances
of an interest rate hike when the Federal Reserve meets in April. US corporate
profits dipped 11.5% for the fourth quarter compared to the same October
through December period in the previous year. Companies were hurt by low oil
prices, with some industrial and petroleum linked companies forced to cut their
workforces or file for bankruptcy.
2 In a first, drone delivers to residential area
(San Francisco Chronicle) A drone has successfully delivered a package to a
residential location in a small Nevada town in what its maker and the governor
of the state said was the first fully autonomous urban drone delivery in the
US.
Flirtey CEO Matt Sweeney said the six-rotor drone
flew about a half-mile along a pre-programmed delivery route on March 10 and
lowered the package outside a vacant residence in an uninhabited area of
Hawthorne, southeast of Reno. The route was established using GPS. A pilot and
visual observers were on standby during the flight but weren't needed, Sweeney
said.
He said the package included bottled water, food and
a first-aid kit. NASA is working with the drone industry and the Federal
Aviation Administration on a low-altitude air traffic control system to prevent
crashes involving drones and other low-altitude aircraft.
The Nevada delivery demonstrates that advanced drone
systems allow aerial vehicles to safely navigate around buildings and deliver
packages with precision within a populated area, Sweeney said.
3 How emerging tech is helping women (Amanda McKenna
in The Guardian) The internet has been central to driving the fourth wave of
feminism – through factors such as exchange of information, access to
investment opportunities and the democratisation of data. Now other emerging
technologies have the potential to have a similarly profound effect.
The virtual reality empathy effect: It may not have
hit the mainstream quite yet but the potential offered by virtual reality
technology is vast – both for commercial applications and those with a more
social-oriented, not-for-profit purpose.
Last year Torbay hospital created a virtual reality
film following a patient’s journey from ambulance to operating theatre,
allowing doctors to share and appreciate a patient’s experience and potentially
re-assess their patient-handling approaches. It’s easy to see how a similar
approach could be used with frontline workers who have to interact with
vulnerable women who have experienced violence or abuse.
3D printing empowering African women: This
technology is already starting to directly touch women’s lives. Research has
found that take-up of artisanal 3D printing is more prevalent among women than
men. Coming from the more commercial end of the spectrum is the Mink device, a
pen-like digital printer that can create cosmetics of any shade. It’s not going
to change the world, but it’s empowering to be able to choose and create
nonetheless.
Taking on the Zika virus: At the start of this
month, Google announced a new partnership with Unicef aimed at mapping, and
ultimately halting, the spread of the Zika virus among pregnant women in Latin
America. The open-source platform gathers data from a range of sources to
create an accurate situational awareness of the Zika virus that 10 years ago
would have been denied to the organisations combating the virus. It is hoped
that by analysing patterns and trends, governments and NGOs could better target
their resources.
Unmanned aerial vehicles: California tech outfit
Matternet has already conducted field trials based around delivering medical
supplies in Haiti, while a similar distribution trial in the Dominican Republic
saw drones deliver medicines from healthcare hubs into small centres in remote,
inaccessible areas, and return laden with samples taken by doctors ready to be
analysed in a central lab.
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