Amazon has announced that it will be expanding its ultra-fast Prime Air drone delivery operations to the UK, Italy and also to an as yet unnamed US city by the end of 2024.

Prime Air Drone Delivery

Amazon Prime Air is a service is intended to (safely) deliver packages to customers in 30 minutes or less using unmanned aerial drones. The unmanned (UAV) delivery drones, which fly at altitudes below 400 feet, use advanced sense-and-avoid technology to safely navigate the airspace and deliver the package to the intended location. As well as being convenient and fast, particularly in areas of road congestion, using these electric drones is also one way that Amazon hopes to reduce the carbon footprint of its package delivery and contribute to its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.

Using Drones For More Than A Year 

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos first revealed his plans for a drone delivery service back in 2013 and Amazon Prime Air completed its first fully autonomous drone delivery as far back as December 2016. In 2020, Amazon received approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate its fleet of Prime Air delivery drones, and Amazon says that it’s been using drones in the US to safely deliver customer packages weighing up to five pounds in one hour or less, for almost a year.

The company says the new locations (i.e. the UK, Italy, and a third city in the US) will add to its existing opt-in drone delivery operations, and that Amazon’s goal is to deliver 500 million packages on autonomous aircraft by 2030.

Regulators 

However, in order to expand its drone network, Amazon will need to satisfy the European regulator which it has found a challenge in the US, such as satisfying the FAA that the drones can operate an autonomous safety-critical system over densely populated environments within the busy US national airspace. As such, and with several test crashes, it was reported that by May this year, Amazon had only completed 100 deliveries in two small U.S. markets compared to Walmart backed DroneUp which reportedly made more than 110,000 deliveries in the US. Therefore, Amazon will need hundreds of incident-free flights to satisfy regulators and expand its services. Also, in the US, there have been some reports of low signups to drone delivery services.

For its new UK, Italian, and expanded US drone service, Amazon says it’s been working closely with national regulators and international regulators, has committed the right resources and has the right technology and infrastructure in place to make its service scalable, convenient, and safe.

Better Drones 

Amazon has announced that its UK and Italy Prime Air delivery service will be undertaken using its new MK30 drone design, which it says is “quieter, smaller, and lighter, than previous models” and can fly twice as far as previous Prime Air drone models, thereby reaching customers further from fulfilment networks. The MK30 drone features ‘best of both worlds’ design as its tiltrotor system means it can take off like a helicopter and transition into horizontal wing-borne flight once in the air.

Other Improvements 

Crucially, for UK flights, Amazon says the MK30 can “fly in more diverse weather conditions” with the package held inside the drone to protect it. Also key to this operation is that the MK30 is equipped with “sense and avoid technology” so it can avoid obstacles in the delivery area. Some of the problems with Amazon’s previous drone models were that they required site surveys to find landing spots with trimmed grass, requiring people, pets and objects needing to be 5 metres away. The hope is that the new MK30 drone (regulations allowing) will be able to operate more safely in tighter and more varied spaces.

Humanoid Robot Announcement 

In addition to announcing its new drone services, Amazon has also announced that it will be testing Agility’s bipedal robot ‘Digit’ (a humanoid robot with arms, legs, and a head) in its warehouse facilities. This marks a substantial change from its many wheeled and robot-arm style robots. Amazon already has a staggering 750,000 autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) deployed across the company’s warehouse network, but a walking humanoid design is a first. It is thought that humanoid-style robots will be well suited to workspaces built for humans (shelves and stairs), and that it could have wider scope than just being used for parcel-picking, thereby expanding future possibilities.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Amazon’s wealth, power, scale, and scope as a business has allowed (and perhaps required) it to experiment more with automation that improves both its productivity and efficiency (i.e. robots) and its delivery service (the drones). In addition to improving these aspects of its business, its drones and robots have been a way for Amazon to put more pressure on the competition, open up new future opportunities, offer more choice to customers (opt-in drone deliveries), learn and build alliances and partnerships, move further towards meeting its green targets (zero emission technology), and continue to grow and expand.

In the UK, parcel delivery drones flying overhead would be a new and novel development but would offer potential opportunities for businesses trying to offer customers speedy (at least same-day), secure deliveries even to difficult-to-reach locations at a time when our roads are often congested, particularly in urban areas (if the price were right).

There are regulatory hurdles to overcome, nevertheless Amazon has made the effort to create a safer and more suitable drone to meet specifications and match environmental conditions. The advantages of drones (speed, directness, cleanliness) could be appreciated and used as way to add value and provide a competitive edge to all kinds of businesses and organisations in the UK that need to deliver goods and other items very quickly.

November 2, 1936 : BBC Basics

“Gentlemen, you have now invented the biggest time-waster of all time. Use it well.”, said Isaac Shoenberg, head of the EMI research team that developed the first fully electronic television system to be used in regular broadcasting.

On the second of November 1936, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) transmitted the first-ever scheduled television programmes. They were in “High Definition” (at the time) and started airing at 3pm and finishing at 4pm. Then again with more content at 9pm until 10pm.

Programming featured brief impromptu performances by musicians. The duration was restricted because early viewers (referred to as “lookers in”) reported eye strain from watching the small screens of the time.

The BBC (namely the world’s oldest national broadcasting organisation, established in 1922), is unusual in that they don’t broadcast adverts on their (domestic) channels because it’s primarily funded by the TV licence fee paid by UK households. This means that it remains independent of commercial interests (as far as we know) and they’re unbiased (supposedly) and a beacon of free-world hope, recognised for its independent reporting throughout the world. In fact, although the primary audience speaks English, the BBC broadcasts in dozens of languages worldwide, from major ones like Arabic, Chinese, and Russian to regional languages like Hausa, Kyrgyz, and Tok Pisin.

In the 1980s, the BBC was involved in a project to promote computer literacy. This led to the creation of the BBC Micro, a series of microcomputers co-developed with Acorn Computers. It was widely used in schools across the UK and was part of a wave of pioneering home-computers originating at the time that kicked-off the careers of many computer programmers and entire industries related to home-computing. Later on in 2015, in a bid to help foster a new generation of computer users, the BBC, in partnership with other organisations, released the Micro Bit, a tiny programmable computer for kids.

As an institution you can either Love it or hate it, nevertheless there’s no denying that the BBC in no small part helped shape the current IT landscape in the UK via an entire generation of people that started their IT career from those early BBC computers and who watched inspiring BBC programmes such as “Tomorrow’s World”.

It’s been reported that following a hack of online travel agency Booking.com’s email system, customers have been receiving phishing emails asking for their bank card details to avoid cancellation of their hotel booking.

The emails, which have been reported to come from a standard booking.com email address, appear to be targeting customers who have checked-in or are due to check in, and although they vary slightly in content, give customers a limited time (4 to 12 hours) to provide their card details following the fraudulent payment request.

It’s been reported that booking.com denies having its email hacked and blames the breach on partner hotels’ email systems being hacked following phishing attacks. The advice for those who have received the emails and are suspicious is to contact Booking.com’s customer service team, contact the hotel directly, or if payment has been made, to contact their bank.

Independent energy thinktank Ember’s Global Electricity Review 2023 reports that fossil fuel power generation has peaked for the half the world and that clean energy sources now account for nearly 40 per cent of the world’s electricity supply.

Five Years Ago 

Ember’s review report, which analyses electricity data from 78 countries representing 93 percent of global electricity demand, says that 2022 marked the peak for power sector emissions, the largest worldwide source of planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2). According to Ember’s figures, this means that the world experienced its first ever annual drop in the use of coal, oil, and gas to generate electricity (other than when in global recession or during the pandemic).

Wind And Solar Up 

One of major changes highlighted in the review which has contributed to a fall in power sector emissions is the rise of solar and wind as power sources. For example, following Solar’s share rising by 24 per cent on 2021 and wind power’s share rising by 17 per cent, they now represent a record 12 per cent of global electricity generation last year, up 10 per cent from 2021.

Renewable energy sources and nuclear power combined represented a 39 per cent share of global generation last year, with Solar’s share rising by 24 per cent (enough to meet the demand of South Africa) and wind by 17 per cent from the previous year.

The growth in wind and solar in 2022 met 80 per cent of the rise in global electricity demand.

Other Influences 

Ember suggests that another influence on the now general downward trajectory of fossil fuel power generation may be the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For example, spiking fossil fuel prices and security concerns about relying on fossil fuel imports may have made governments look to other energy sources, and may have accelerated electrification, e.g. more heat pumps, electric vehicles and electrolysers. Ember says these will drive reductions in emissions for other sectors, leading to more pressure to build clean power more quickly.

Carbon Emissions Rose As Rising Demand Met From Less Clean Sources 

Despite fewer warming gases being produced and the electricity produced last year being the cleanest ever, a rise in global electricity demand and some countries meeting that demand with less clean sources led to a rise in carbon emissions. For example, some old coal-fired power stations were brought back into service to meet demand, causing coal generation to grow by 1.1 per cent.

It also worth noting here that the UK government appears to be planning to meet demand in some less clean ways with the first new coalmine for three decades getting the go-ahead last December, and in July, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attracting criticism by granting hundreds of new North Sea oil and gas licenses.

Other Problems 

Ember’s review also noted that although, if taken together with nuclear and hydropower, clean sources produced an impressive 39 per cent of global electricity in 2022, nuclear and hydro electricity’s contribution was hampered by (for example) many French reactors being offline, and Europe’s rivers too low (in many places) for hydro generation.

China Promising

With China emitting 27 percent of global carbon dioxide and a third of the world’s greenhouse gases, one promising aspect of Ember’s review was that although China is the world’s biggest user of coal power, it also produced 40 per cent of the world’s new solar power and 50 per cent of new wind power last year (and 20 per cent of all solar panels installed worldwide). This could indicate that it may achieve that peak in coal generation earlier than 2025 and move towards cleaner sources.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation? 

Ember’s findings of a transformation occurring from last year in the global power sector is promising and marks a pivotal moment, heralding a shift away from fossil fuels towards cleaner, more sustainable energy sources. The findings of Ember’s review, appear to show that world is moving in the right direction, with fossil fuel use for energy generation appearing to have reached its peak.

This appears to be testament to the growing adoption of renewable energy sources, with solar and wind power leading the way. The clean energy sector accounting for nearly 40 per cent of of the world’s electricity supply is a major milestone in our journey towards a more sustainable future but this transition is not without its challenges. The decline in fossil fuel generation, while promising, is just the first step in a long journey towards a net-zero power sector by 2040 and a net-zero global economy by 2050, and some would say that this journey needs to happen a lot faster.

The task ahead requires not just the continued growth of clean energy sources, but also addressing complexities like grid stability (if it’s relying mostly on solar, wind etc), financing in underdeveloped economies, supply chain capacities, and political resistance from affected regions. These may be critical factors that need urgent attention and innovative solutions to ensure a smooth and equitable transition.

There’s certainly plenty of optimism in Ember’s review (i.e. that fossil fuel generation will decline by 0.3 per cent  this year) with bigger falls in subsequent years (as more wind and solar comes online). However, a European Commission report released this month was much less optimistic, saying that the EU area must cut its carbon emissions three times faster to meet its targets. Therefore, it may depend upon which report you read and which part of the world you’re in at this crucial time of transition as to how well things are going with emissions targets.

If you’d like to protect your privacy and prevent yourself from being tracked by websites other than the one you are currently visiting, there’s a way to automatically block third-party cookies in Google Chrome. Here’s how:

– In Chrome, click on the three dots (top right) and click on ‘Settings’.

– Click on ‘Privacy and security’.

– Click on ‘Third-party cookies’.

– Select ‘Block third-party cookies’.

Microsoft has announced the launch of Azure AI Content Safety, a new content moderation service that uses AI to detect and filter out offensive, harmful, or inappropriate user and AI-generated text or image content.

What Kind of Harmful Content?

The type of content Microsoft’s developed Azure AI Content Safety to filter out includes anything that’s offensive, risky, or undesirable, e.g. “profanity, adult content, gore, violence, hate speech” and more. Azure is Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, where the new Content Safety moderation filter will be deployed (ChatGPT is available in the Azure OpenAI Service).

What’s The Problem? 

Microsoft says that the impact of harmful content on platforms goes beyond user dissatisfaction and can damage a brand’s image, erode user trust, undermine long-term financial stability, and even expose the platform to potential legal liabilities.  As well as the problem of user-generated content, the new feature uses AI to filter out the growing problem of AI-generated harmful content, which includes inaccurate content (misinformation – perhaps generated by AI ‘hallucinations’).

A Sophisticated AI Moderation Tool 

Although Microsoft’s AI Content Safety Filtering feature sounds as though it’s primarily designed to protect private users, it’s actually primarily designed to protect companies and their brands from the risks and challenges of moderation and of the rub-off associations and legal problems of having harmful content and misinformation or disinformation published on their platforms (a moderation tool), with users being the secondary beneficiaries – if it’s filtered out, they won’t see it (a win-win).

With Microsoft being a major investor in AI (i.e. OpenAI) it also appears to have a wider purpose that utilises this and shows that AI can have a really positive purpose, countering the fear stories of AI running away with itself and wiping out humanity.

In a nutshell, Microsoft says its new Azure AI Content Safety Filtering feature ensures “accuracy, reliability, and absence of harmful or inappropriate materials in AI-generated outputs” and “protects users from misinformation and potential harm but also upholds ethical standards and builds trust in AI technologies” which Microsoft says will help “create a safer digital environment that promotes responsible use of AI and safeguards the well-being of individuals and society as a whole”. 

How Does It Work and What Can It Do? 

The types of detection and filtering possible and the capabilities of AI Content Safety includes:

– Offering moderation of visual and text content.

– A ‘Severity’ metric,’ which (on scale of 0 to 7) gives an indication of the severity of specific content (safe 0-1, low 2-3, medium 4-5, and high 6-7) which enables businesses to assess the level of threat posed by certain content, make informed decisions, and take proactive measures. A severity level of 7 (the highest), for example, covers content that “endorses, glorifies, or promotes extreme forms of harmful instruction and activity towards Identity Groups”.

– The multi-category filtering of harmful content across the domains of Hate, Violence, Self-Harm, and Sex.

– The use of AI algorithms to scan, analyse, and moderate visual content because Microsoft says digital communication also relies heavily on visuals.

– Moderation across multiple languages.

How? 

Businesses can choose to operate and use the new filtering system either via API/SDK integration (for automated content analysis) or by using the more hands-on ‘Content Safety Studio’ dashboard-style, web-based interface.

AWS 

Amazon also has a similar content moderation service for its AWS called ‘Amazon Rekognition.’ It also uses a hierarchical taxonomy to label categories of inappropriate or offensive content and has “DetectModerationLabels” in operation to detect inappropriate or offensive content in images.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

As any social media platform or larger company will be able to testify, moderation of content posts is a major task and human moderators alone can’t really scale efficiently to meet these the demands quickly or well enough, so companies need a more intelligent, cost-effective, reliable, and scalable solution.

The costs of not tackling offensive and inappropriate content don’t just relate to poor user experiences but can lead to expensive legal issues, loss of brand reputation, and more. Whereas before generative AI arrived on the scene, it was bad enough trying to moderate just the human-generated content, with the addition of AI-generated content, moderation of offensive content has become exponentially harder. It makes sense, therefore, for Microsoft to leverage the power of its own considerable AI investment to offer an intelligent system to businesses that covers both images and texts, uses an ordered and understandable system of categorisation, and offers businesses the choice of an automated or more hands-on dashboard version.

AI offers a level of reliability, scalability, and affordability that wasn’t available before, thereby reducing risk and worry for businesses. The recent events of the conflict in Israel and Gaza (plus the posting of horrific images and videos which have prompted the deletion of social media apps for children) illustrates just how bad some content posts can be, although images of self-harm, violence, hate speech, and more have long been a source of concern for all web users.

Microsoft’s AI Content Safety system therefore gives businesses a way to ensure that their own platform is free of offensive and damaging content. Furthermore, in protecting themselves, it follows that customers and other web users and viewers are also spared and protected from the bad experience and effects that some content can cause.