Magic Leap Brings Bickering R2-D2 and C-3PO Into Your Home, Sadly No Sign Of Solo

Deep Nerd AlertMagic Leap—the $1.4 billion AR beast—has partnered with Lucasfilm to bring R2-D2 and C-3PO in your living room as the Millennium Falcon jumps to light speed through your wall. While the Abbot and Costello-like robotic duo are always enjoyable, a hint of Capt. Solo and his fate would have been a nice touch. But, no. Magic Leap continues to tantalize with its videos, a promise of mixed reality that has yet to be seen by regular consumers like you and me. (Or have you?) But investors from Google, Morgan Stanley and Warner Bros. can't possibly be wrong. Right?

Ride a 3D, Self-Driving BusOlli is a 3D-printer fully autonomous, electric bus will take visitors for rides this summer in National Harbor, Maryland—just 10 miles outside of our nation's capital. Arizona car maker Local Motors built Olli, injecting the vehicle with IBM's Watson IoT for Automotive platform so passengers may be able to ask Olli for details such as the closest spot for coffee. Expect to see Olli rolling down the streets of Las Vegas and Miami-Dade County later this year.

Drone Near Miss, Again A drone came within 50 feet of a water-carrying helicopter as it helped fight the Hawken Fire near Reno, Nevada. The drone reportedly flew under the helicopter's nose—and the pilots, a father and his teen-aged child, were located in a park. Once, the air was the domain of birds, insects, an occasional kite and licensed pilots, operating flying machines registered with the FAA. Today, for less than a child's weekly allowance, families can purchase tiny drones sending these up into the sky worrying authorities about possible accidents. (Via News 4)

Google AI Crosses The Pond Google has opened its first European research group for the Machine Learning division. The location? Zurich, where Google says it also has its largest engineering office outside of the US. What is Google's Machine Learning group? Just the people who have brought you language app, Translate, for starters.

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