Steve Jobs’ vision of an internet without the Flash player is finally coming true. By the end of 2020, Adobe will kill off Flash Player, and with it one of the original building blocks of the World Wide Web will be no more. Adobe’s Flash player was revolutionary in its day, transforming the internet from flat, boring pages to interactive experiences. Thing is, the latest version of HTML does everything flash could do and has seemingly pushed Adobe into a corner. Also, Flash became a favorite target for hackers leading most browser developers to block the plugin.
Security patches for Flash will still be available until late 2020 for those still clinging to the plugin.
By the year 2040, every new car sold in the UK will be either electric, or hybrid. That’s right UK lawmakers are banning gas and diesel powered cars… in 23 years. It’s part of a broader initiative to improve air quality in cities and towns across the country, and follows similar announcements in recent months by other European countries. The Netherlands and Norway, plan to phase out sales of gas powered vehicles as early as 2025, while Germany is targeting 2030. France, like the U.K., aims to halt sales by 2040.
Many automakers are already well ahead of what the UK government is doing. The most aggressive is Volvo which plans to sell nothing but electric and hybrid cars starting in 2019.
And we have good news to report on Steve the autonomous security robot. Steve headlines last week after he accidentally toppled into a fountain while on patrol in Washington, D.C. Left submerged and useless after water flooded his vital components, a severely sodden Steve was hauled from the pool and returned to his maker for checks. Well, apparently, Steve is fine! Upon reboot steve returned to life saying quote “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” and… “I don’t remember seeing a ‘no swimming’ sign.”
In all seriousness, Knightscope said that a preliminary review of the data “suggests no foul play” — in other words, no one pushed Steve into the water. Although the company is currently trying to work out why Steve ended up in the fountain.
