If there’s ever been an economic con, it’s Foxconn in Wisconsin. The Financial Times describes two key aspects of Foxconn’s character, in a story, Foxconn shifts focus to ‘smart manufacturing.’ Automation, Not Jobs. The new reporting tells us that Foxconn’s working for “automating other manufacturers’ processes.” Of course they are: they’ve a whole business producing robots…
Technology
Bad Ideas, Economy, Employment, Foxconn, Government Spending, Technology
Foxconn in Wisconsin: Not So High Tech After All
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Lauly Li, Cheng Ting-Fang, and Gen Nakamura report Foxconn opts to make smaller displays at Wisconsin plant: OSAKA/TAIPEI — Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn Technology Group, is considering producing small to midsized displays for Apple, automakers and others at its $10 billion factory planned for the U.S. state of Wisconsin, people familiar with the…
Technology
The Meaning Behind Pencil Lead Numbers
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Education, Mendacity, Science/Nature, Technology, Trump
For Mr. Trump, It’s STEM, Schwem, Whatever…
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Embed from Getty Images In response to a question about whether state-sponsored hacking against an American political party should go unpunished, Donald Trump grew expansive, giving his typically thoughtful perspective on science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and (even) epistemology: “I think we ought to get on with our lives. I think that computers have complicated lives very…
Documentary, History, Technology
And the Internet was Born: The Creation of the ARPANET
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Bridget Galaty has produced a fine documentary on the ARPANET, an early packet-switching network. Ms. Galaty is a 12th grade Video Cinema Arts (VCA) student at Denver School of the Arts (DSA) – a public, magnet, arts school within Denver Public Schools (DPS). Her work here, and her other videography on her YouTube channel, is…
Space, Technology
How Advanced Would Aliens Need to Be to Contact Earth?
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Business, Free Markets, Technology
Jobs on Product Offerings and Markets
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Technology
Goodbye, VCR
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Embed from Getty Images There’s a story over at Quartz about the end of videocassette-recorder production. Ananya Bhattacharya writes that Japan’s Funai Electronics, which makes its own electronics, in addition to supplying companies like Sanyo, will produce the last batch of VCR units by July 30, Nikkei reported (link in Japanese). The company cites difficulty…
Games/Puzzles, Technology
So What’s Pokémon Go?
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
It’s two things: a game one plays with one’s smartphone (as CNET explains in the video embedded above), and a reworking of an old set of characters in a new format. The original characters were interesting to millions before, and remain interesting, making their revival in a new format a good bet. If the characters…
Space, Technology
NASA Tests New Rocket Engine
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
NASA enjoyed a successful test of a heavy rocket, and both the federal agency and private enterprise are pushing ahead with rockets powerful enough to support a mission to Mars. A booster for the most powerful rocket in the world, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), successfully fired up Tuesday for its second qualification ground test…