On (most) Fridays I post here a roundup of interesting things I’ve read and/or posted on social media since my last roundup, generally stories about emerging technologies, experiential activations, interactive art, advances in scientific research, and other things I find interesting.
Featured Image: guoming zhang

Researchers in Singapore created cyborg beetles by fitting them out with tiny backpacks that deliver electrical pulses to steer them left or right as they fly:

Image: Dr. Li Yao and Prof. Hirotaka Sato, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Cyclist trash @ five boro bike tour:

Image: Josiah Hobson

Samsung’s latest patents might mean we finally get folding smartphones:

Image: USPTO

Macy’s has acquired NYC experiential retail pioneer Story and will make its founder Rachel Shechtman their new “brand experience officer”:

Image: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg

Microsoft demonstrated a meeting room of the future at their Build developer conference – its AI identifies attendees, records all conversations, extracts action items, and much more:

Image: Microsoft/The Verge

Uber has unveiled the flying car it will user for its UberAir flying taxi service and it’s ambitiously called the “Common Reference Model”:

Image: UBER

Google Duplex, is an experimental AI system for accomplishing real-world tasks over the phone, like making phone calls to set up appointments:

Image: Google

Rejuvenate Bio is a stealthy Harvard startup that wants to reverse aging in dogs, and humans could be next:

Image: ACKCSC

Researchers have been experimenting with inaudible voice commands embedded in music or white noise that humans can’t hear but Alexa and Siri will respond to:

Image: Lynn Scurfield

DeepMind has discovered that an artificial neural network will spontaneously form something similar to the brain’s navigation neurons:

Image: DEEPMIND BLOG

To alleviate hugely problematic water shortages, China has just begun the world’s largest ever weather control experiment:

Image: Imaginechina/REX/Shutterstock

British supermarket Ocado is building the automated warehouse of the future, using robots to make online grocery shopping faster:

Image: James Vincent / The Verge

To see stories like this as I find them, follow me on Twitter: @josiah17