Humanoid Robots in Warehouses

Humanoid robots are on their way to warehouses as companies start to move beyond the disembodied arms, moving trays and other machines aimed at speeding up logistics operations.


Agility Robotics, Figure AI and Boston Dynamics are among companies designing robots more closely modeled on human beings for use in distribution centers. The new machines are being engineered with the ability to walk around warehouses, reach items high on shelves, crouch to put things down and pick up and move boxes, defying some of the physical limits on automation in the industrial world.

The robot developers say their devices will help warehouse operators mitigate labor shortfalls and eliminate the need to redesign warehouses to match the capabilities of machines.

Logistics operators have been adding automation to their warehouses for years to speed up the stacking and retrieving of goods and to take some of the most burdensome, repetitive tasks off workers. Many of the devices are designed to work in concert with employees by taking on tasks such as hauling heavy goods or bringing totes of items directly to workers.  READ MORE...

Diminishing Importance of Traditional Values

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Americans in the nation's capital reacted to the country's changing principles, with some disheartened and frightened by a recent poll that found values like patriotism and faith have become less important to the nation over the last 25 years.

"It's sad," Sherry, from Alabama, told Fox News. "They don't believe in what we stand for."

But Michelle, from Virginia, said Americans should be proud to have a country full of diverse and evolving values.

"We're supposed to be different," Michelle said. "We're not supposed to be the same."

Sherry, from Alabama, says Americans no longer believe in what the country stands for as patriotism and faith drop in importance, according to results from a March survey. (Megan Myers/Fox News Digital)

Core principles once central to Americans' values receded in importance this year, according to a Wall Street Journal-NORC poll published Friday. The share of respondents who said patriotism was very important dropped 32 percentage points compared to a 1998 poll, and those who said the same of religion decreased by 23 percentage points.

"It seems we're moving away from some of the things we hold closer and moving towards others," Jay, from Atlanta, told Fox News. "As times move on, people want different things."

The importance of having children dropped from 59% in 1998 to 30%, according to the poll. Meanwhile, respondents who considered money a top priority increased to 43%, up from 31% a quarter-century ago.

Americans told Fox News their top values, ranging from work and family to hard work and independence. (iStock)

Several Americans walking in the nation's capital shared their top values.  READ MORE...

Advertisers to Boycott Twitter

Advertisers plan to boycott Twitter if Elon Musk allows Donald Trump back on the platform after he took control on Thursday night, The Wall Street Journal reported.

After paying $44 billion to close the deal he tried to walk away from, Musk swiftly fired four top executives including CEO Parag Agrawal and finance chief Ned Segal.

Advertisers are now weighing in as concerns over former President Donald Trump being reinstated grow.

Kieley Taylor, the global head of partnerships at advertising agency GroupM, told The Journal that letting Trump tweet again would be a red line for some major brands.  READ MORE...

Ancient Pyramids in the Amazon

Secret pyramids and small cities dating back to the Middle Ages have been discovered in one of the densest parts of the Amazon.


According to a journal published in Nature, a new type of advanced laser-mapping technology was used to penetrate the dense Bolivian rainforest of the region.


By deploying this new research tool, archaeologists have now made the landmark discovery of town-like civilisations in the area.


The discovery is particularly exciting for researchers as this now proves that Amazonians lived together in township-like structures before the Spanish set foot on South American soil.


Colorado State University archaeologist Chris Fisher said the new technology will usher in a new age of research in the Amazon, as per The Wall Street Journal.


"This is the first of what I hope will be a huge series of studies that will blow the lid off of preconceptions about what pre-Hispanic polities looked like in the Amazon in terms of their complexity, size and density," he said.


Dr Fisher said that before Hispanic occupation in the 16th century it was believed Amazonians lived in small groups with limited social development and agricultural systems.


However, this landmark discovery indicates that may not have been the case.


Dr Fisher added: "These sites are pushing the boundaries of what we would call cities."


Scientists from Germany and the UK searched six regions of the Amazon in Bolivia using a helicopter equipped with light detection and ranging equipment.


The new type of research has paid them back in spades, with 26 settlements revealed to them in unprecedented new detail.  READ MORE...

The Truth About the Midlife Crisis

Before we commence with the festivities, I wanted to thank everyone for helping my first book become a Wall Street Journal bestseller. To check it out, click here.  

Wall Street Journal Bestseller
Much of the advice we’ve been told about achievement is logical, earnest…and downright wrong. In Barking Up the Wrong Tree, Eric Barker reveals the extraordinary science behind what actually determines success and most importantly, how anyone can achieve it. 

***

You can reach a point in life where you think, “I am never going to achieve what I thought I would.”

Yeah, dark, but far from uncommon.

You’re not where you expected to be. There’s a sense of needing to make up for lost time — but it seems there’s less time than ever. Life has gone from feeling like an epic unfurling adventure to a sterile bureaucratic treadmill. Endless deadening responsibilities, but there’s no longer a narrative guiding it all toward victory and fulfillment. The numbing predictability gives birth to a corrosive sense of boredom.

You want to send it back to the kitchen: Please tell the chef this is not the life I ordered.

Or maybe you did get what you wanted – but it’s just not all you thought it would be. And so you ask yourself the question:

“Is this all there is?”

(For the record, I don’t recommend putting that phrase on an inspirational fridge magnet.)

Are these feelings a midlife crisis? Well, when you feel the need to ask that question, it kinda answers itself. It’s like a spiritual awakening — but in reverse.

Maybe you’re not even in midlife. Doesn’t matter. The feelings are the same. It seems like it’s too late to turn the ship around. The accumulated decisions and compromises have locked you in. Your life seems like something that happened to you. “How did I get here?” You feel trapped.

YEEEEEEEESH, that’s depressing.

Okay, some of you may be thinking: “Eric, are you feeling okay? Good God, I’m not having a crisis but your description might give me one.”

Sorry for the “Scared Straight” presentation. (And I’m doing just fine, thanks.) But we have an issue here that everybody knows about but nobody gives you an answer to. Plenty of discussion about youth. Many references to the “Golden Years.” But then there’s that BIG area in the middle where many of us are. Not much guidance. Figure it out. Best of luck.

Adulting is hard. We all get tired and start to question life. We all wonder if we’re really doing it right. And if we’re not careful, it can reach crisis proportions where you find yourself motorcycle shopping. Maybe you’re in the midst of it, maybe you’re on your way out of it, or maybe you can see it on the horizon, but we could all use help doing some existential troubleshooting in the muddy middle of life.

Yeah, time to roll up our sleeves. We’re gonna get some solid insight from a few books on the subject: Middle Age, Life Reimagined, and Midlife.

Okay, adults. Time to start adulting. Let’s get to it…  

IF YOU WANT TO READ MORE ABOUT WHAT ERIC BARKER WROTE, CLICK HERE...

Living Off Paper Money

Rising stocks and rock-bottom interest rates have delivered a big perk to rich Americans: cheap loans that they can use to fund their lifestyles while minimizing their tax bills.

Banks say their wealthy clients are borrowing more than ever before, often using loans backed by their portfolios of stocks and bonds. Morgan Stanley wealth-management clients have $68.1 billion worth of securities-based and other nonmortgage loans outstanding, more than double five years earlier. Bank of America Corp. said it has $62.4 billion in securities-based loans, dwarfing its book of home-equity lines of credit.

The loans have special benefits beyond the flexible repayment terms and low interest rates on offer. They allow borrowers who need cash to avoid selling in a hot market. Startup founders can monetize their stakes without losing control of their companies. The very rich often use these loans as part of a “buy, borrow, die” strategy to avoid capital-gains taxes.

Many wealthy people are also borrowing against their portfolios. When Tom Anderson started at Merrill Lynch & Co. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 2002, many of his fellow advisers had just one or two securities-based loans in their book of business. Over the years, he encouraged more clients to borrow and noticed peers doing the same. Now it is common for advisers at big firms to have dozens of these loans outstanding, he said. Merrill Lynch is now a part of Bank of America.  TO READ FULL STORY...  YOU MUST SUBSCRIBE TO THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

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