1 World’s first drone delivery service in Rwanda
(Dan Simmons on BBC) What is being hailed as the world's first commercial
regular drone delivery service is beginning drop-offs in Rwanda. The operation
uses fixed-wing drones that automatically fly to destinations in the central
African nation.
They release small packages attached to parachutes
without needing to land at the delivery points before returning. Zipline - the
US start-up running the project - is made up of engineers who formerly worked
at Space X, Google, Lockheed Martin and other tech companies.
Its drones will initially be used to deliver blood,
plasma, and coagulants to hospitals across rural western Rwanda, helping to cut
waiting times from hours to minutes. The aircraft are launched from a catapult
and fly below 500ft (152m) to avoid the airspace used by passenger planes. They
have an operational range of 150km (93 miles) but could, in theory, fly almost
twice that distance.
The company says the cost per trip is roughly equal
to that of the current delivery method, by motorbike or ambulance. Although
Rwanda's military has shown interest in Zipline's work, the country's
information and communications technology minister has said it has no plans for
the defence department to use the technology.
2 HP to cut 3,000 jobs in three years (San Francisco
Chronicle) HP Inc. says it will cut 3,000 to 4,000 jobs over the next three
years as it faces continued challenges in the markets for personal computers
and printers.
The cuts are in addition to 3,000 jobs that HP
previously said it was trimming this fiscal year. A spokeswoman said the
company has about 50,000 employees worldwide.
HP has been grappling with shrinking demand for PCs
and printers as more people use smartphones and store documents and photos
online. CEO Dion Weisler hopes to build the business by selling more high-end
PCs, office printers and 3D printing systems.
HP is one of two companies formed last year by the
break-up of the old Hewlett-Packard, Inc. The other, Hewlett Packard
Enterprise, primarily sells servers and other data-center technology.
3 Will jobs exist in 2050? (Charlotte Seager in The
Guardian) What will the job market look like by 2050? Will 40% of roles have
been lost to automation – as predicted by Oxford university economists Dr Carl
Frey and Dr Michael Osborne – or will there still be jobs even if the nature of
work is exceptionally different from today?
The future of work will soon become “the survival of
the most adaptable”, says Paul Mason, emerging technologies director for
Innovate UK. As new technologies fundamentally change the way we work, the jobs
that remain will be multifaceted and changeable.
“Workers of the future will need to be highly
adaptable and juggle three or more different roles at a time,” says Anand
Chopra-McGowan, head of enterprise new markets for General Assembly. So ongoing
education will play a key role in helping people develop new skills.
It may be the case that people need to consistently
retrain to keep up-to-date with the latest technological advances, as jobs are
increasingly automated and made redundant. The idea of a “job for life” will be
well and truly passé. “In 2050 people will continually need to update their
skills for jobs of the moment, but I have an optimistic view that there will
continue to be employment if these skills are honed,” adds Chopra-McGowan.
However, Mark Spelman, co-head of future of the
internet interactive, member of the executive committee for the World Economic
Forum, says there will be winners and losers in this new world. “The idea of
continuous training is optimistic – I imagine there will be one-day training
blitzes where people learn new skills quickly, and then are employed for a
month while they’re needed.”
For businesses, this means keeping on top of the
latest technological advances. The idea of productivity was forged in the
industrial revolution, so it’s no surprise that this may soon become an
outdated way of viewing work. “There’s no shortage of work in society – there’s
loads of jobs like caring, looking after children and volunteer work, for which
we do not assign a value,” says Magdalena Bak-Maier, founder and managing
director of Make Time Count.
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