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Robots could make work less important for human co-workers

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Much has been written (and can proceed to be written) concerning the impact of automation on the labor market. In the short term, many employers have complained about their inability to fill positions and retain employees, further accelerating robot adoption. It is unclear what long-term impact the sort of radical change can have on the labor market in the long run.

However, an often neglected aspect of this conversation is how human staff discuss their robotic colleagues. There is way to be said for systems that enhance or eliminate the more strenuous elements of physical work. But can technology even have a negative impact on worker morale? Both things can actually be true at the identical time.

The Brookings Institute released this week results findings from several surveys conducted over the past decade and a half to evaluate the impact of robotics on the “meaning” of work. Team of advisors thus defines this admittedly abstract concept: :

“When examining what makes work meaningful, we draw on self-determination theory. According to this theory, meeting three innate psychological needs – competence, autonomy and relatedness – is vital to motivating employees and enabling them to feel purpose through their work.

The data was collected from worker surveys conducted in 14 industries in 20 European countries and in comparison with data on robot adoption published by the International Federation of Robotics. Industries covered by the study included automotive, chemical products, food and beverage, and metal manufacturing.

The institute reports a negative impact on employees’ perceived level of meaningfulness and autonomy.

“If the number of robots in the food industry matched that in the automotive industry,” notes Brookings, “we estimate that meaningful work would decline by 6.8% and autonomy by 7.5%. The autonomy aspect speaks to ongoing concerns about whether the implementation of robotics in industrial settings may also make the roles performed by human counterparts more robotic. Of course, the counterpoint has often been made that these systems effectively remove a lot of probably the most repetitive elements of those roles.

The institute further suggests that some of these impacts are felt across roles and demographics. “We found that the negative consequences of robotization for the meaningfulness of work are the same, regardless of the employees’ education level, skill level or the tasks they perform,” we read within the article.

When it involves how you can take care of this alteration, the reply probably won’t be to easily reject automation. As long as robots proceed to have a positive impact on corporate bottom lines, their adoption will proceed to grow rapidly.

Brookings resident Milena Nikolova offers a seemingly easy solution when she writes, “If companies have mechanisms in place to ensure that people and machines work together rather than compete to perform tasks, machines can help improve employee well-being.”

This is one in every of the important thing drivers behind automation firms touting collaborative robotics as an alternative of direct substitute of staff. A contest between humans and their robotic counterparts will almost actually lead to a loss.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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US medical device giant Artivion says hackers stole files during a cybersecurity incident

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Artivion, a medical device company that produces implantable tissue for heart and vascular transplants, says its services have been “disrupted” resulting from a cybersecurity incident.

In 8-K filing In an interview with the SEC on Monday, Georgia-based Artivion, formerly CryoLife, said it became aware of a “cybersecurity incident” that involved the “compromise and encryption” of information on November 21. This suggests that the corporate was attacked by ransomware, but Artivion has not yet confirmed the character of the incident and didn’t immediately reply to TechCrunch’s questions. No major ransomware group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Artivion said it took some systems offline in response to the cyberattack, which the corporate said caused “disruptions to certain ordering and shipping processes.”

Artivion, which reported third-quarter revenue of $95.8 million, said it didn’t expect the incident to have a material impact on the corporate’s funds.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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It’s a Raspberry Pi 5 in a keyboard and it’s called Raspberry Pi 500

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Manufacturer of single-board computers Raspberry Pi is updating its cute little computer keyboard device with higher specs. Named Raspberry Pi500This successor to the Raspberry Pi 400 is just as powerful as the present Raspberry Pi flagship, the Raspberry Pi 5. It is on the market for purchase now from Raspberry Pi resellers.

The Raspberry Pi 500 is the simplest method to start with the Raspberry Pi because it’s not as intimidating because the Raspberry Pi 5. When you take a look at the Raspberry Pi 500, you do not see any chipsets or PCBs (printed circuit boards). The Raspberry Pi is totally hidden in the familiar housing, the keyboard.

The idea with the Raspberry Pi 500 is you could connect a mouse and a display and you are able to go. If, for instance, you’ve got a relative who uses a very outdated computer with an outdated version of Windows, the Raspberry Pi 500 can easily replace the old PC tower for many computing tasks.

More importantly, this device brings us back to the roots of the Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi computers were originally intended for educational applications. Over time, technology enthusiasts and industrial customers began using single-board computers all over the place. (For example, when you’ve ever been to London Heathrow Airport, all of the departures and arrivals boards are there powered by Raspberry Pi.)

Raspberry Pi 500 draws inspiration from the roots of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a non-profit organization. It’s the right first computer for college. In some ways, it’s a lot better than a Chromebook or iPad because it’s low cost and highly customizable, which inspires creative pondering.

The Raspberry Pi 500 comes with a 32GB SD card that comes pre-installed with Raspberry Pi OS, a Debian-based Linux distribution. It costs $90, which is a slight ($20) price increase over the Raspberry Pi 400.

Only UK and US keyboard variants will probably be available at launch. But versions with French, German, Italian, Japanese, Nordic and Spanish keyboard layouts will probably be available soon. And when you’re in search of a bundle that features all the things you would like, Raspberry Pi also offers a $120 desktop kit that features the Raspberry Pi 500, a mouse, a 27W USB-C power adapter, and a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable.

In other news, Raspberry Pi has announced one other recent thing: the Raspberry Pi monitor. It is a 15.6-inch 1080p monitor that’s priced at $100. Since there are quite a few 1080p portable monitors available on the market, this launch is not as noteworthy because the Pi 500. However, for die-hard Pi fans, there’s now also a Raspberry Pi-branded monitor option available.

Image credits:Raspberry Pi

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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Apple Vision Pro may add support for PlayStation VR controllers

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Vision Pro headset

According to Apple, Apple desires to make its Vision Pro mixed reality device more attractive for gamers and game developers latest report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

The Vision Pro was presented more as a productivity and media consumption device than a tool geared toward gamers, due partly to its reliance on visual and hand controls moderately than a separate controller.

However, Apple may need gamers if it desires to expand the Vision Pro’s audience, especially since Gurman reports that lower than half one million units have been sold to this point. As such, the corporate has reportedly been in talks with Sony about adding support for PlayStation VR2 handheld controllers, and has also talked to developers about whether they may support the controllers of their games.

Offering more precise control, Apple may also make other forms of software available in Vision Pro, reminiscent of Final Cut Pro or Adobe Photoshop.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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