Golden State Warriors Season Update

With over half of the season already in the books, this would be a good time to check in on the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. Basketball fans will note that at this point last season, the Warriors were sitting with an astonishing 48-4 record after starting the season off with a record 24 wins in a row.

The 2016-17 season started with the highest of expectation as the Warriors were able to lure superstar Kevin Durant over in free agency from the Oklahoma Thunder. There was little doubt that a starting quintet that included two-time league MVP Stephen Curry and All-star Klay Thompson joining forces with an offensive juggernaut like Durant was going to create problems for the rest of the league.

The only surprise so far this season is the five losses the team has suffered, with two of those losses coming at home against San Antonio and Houston. However, the Warriors are certainly entitled to an adjustment period while they work on integrating Durant into an offensive scheme that relies on precision passing and outstanding 3-point shooting.

Of course, it’s hard to ask anymore out of a team that is leading the league in scoring at 118.3 PPG and field-goal percentage at .501%. Without trying to place any blame on a specific player, a couple of the team’s early season losses occurred while Thompson struggled to find his stroke and his rightful position on the court. All concerns about his ability to still put up big points were surely set aside when he laid down a scorching 60 points against the Indiana Pacers in less that 30 minutes on the court. That number just missed the NBA record for points per minute as Thompson scored 2.07 PPM versus the record of 2.09 PPM.

As for the rest of the team, everyone seems to be settling in nicely to the new player rotation scheme as laid down by Head Coach Steve Kerr. On the season, Durant holds a scoring edge over Steph Curry, averaging 25.7 PPG while Curry is averaging 25.3 PPG. Draymond Green, continues to be a very important component on a team that has designs for another NBA Championship. It’s worth noting that Green, as a forward, leads the team in assists with 7.3 per game. That’s an amazing accomplishment on a team that is leading the league in assists by a large margin. It’s also a testament to how deep this team is and why they are favorites to take down the league title.

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Google’s Alphabet Inc. Company and Their Self-driving Service

In 2009, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, Inc, began the daunting task of researching and developing autonomous, or self-driving vehicles. This endeavor was aptly titled the “self-driving car project.” By 2012, their autonomous technology had clocked in more than 300,000 miles of driving time on freeways and highways. In the same year, they began to test their vehicles on city streets.

By 2014, Google had developed their own self-driving vehicle prototype, and tested said prototype on public roads the following year. Throw in another 2 million self-driven miles and an additional 1 billion miles of simulated tests with their technology, and, in 2016, the project became its own business entity called Waymo.

It was with the creation of Waymo that Google announced their official intent to join the ever-growing market of automated cars and compete with rivals such as Tesla and Uber. According to CEO John Krafcik, Waymo stands for “A new way forward in mobility,” and that with the concept in mind, they have big plans for the future. He stated that he could see their self-driving technology being used for ride-sharing, transportation, personal-use, and beyond.

In May of 2016, Google partnered with Fiat-Chrysler to begin integrating their minivans with Google’s self-driving system. This pairing proved beneficial for both companies, since Fiat would not have to spend the money developing their own technology, and Google would have more time to perfect their self-driving technology.

As of today, Google is using its autonomous technology in vehicles that are still equipped with a gas pedal and steering wheel, to appease state’s regulations. The goal, says Krafcik, is to get to a point where those elements are not necessary.

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Uber and Self-Driving Cars

In 2015, ride-share company Uber partnered with Carnegie Mellon University to create the Advanced Technology Center. The goal was to make self-driving cars a consumer reality. The National Robotics Engineering Center was also involved with the project, and took on the task of researching vehicle safety.

In August, cars took to the streets of Pittsburgh. Currently, there are 14 autonomous Ford Fusion’s in Uber’s fleet. When a user requests a car, they’ll get one of the test Fusions, if available. A driver is also present for safety control.

Journalists got early access to the fleet, and reporters from NPR, TechCrunch, and Wired have all shared their experiences with Uber’s self-proclaimed cars of the future. The reporters’ stories are generally consistent with one another. The driver has the option to switch off the autonomous mode and go manual, as was the case for several obstacles in the road.

Uber refers to Pittsburgh as “the double black diamond of driving”: the city experiences four distinct seasons that create a wide variety of driving conditions. Its roads are also full of potholes, and the city arrangement includes a unique grid and several bridges. They’ve contrasted this approach with Google’s self driving cars, which operate exclusively in the Silicon Valley sun. Uber believes that all of these variables make Pittsburgh one of the more challenging cities for driving. They figure if they can perfect autonomous ridesharing there, then expansion to other cities will be easier.

In the long term, Uber envisions a world where even the safety driver isn’t necessary. Eliminating the human aspect of driving, they believe, will make roads safer.

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What We Know About The Chevy Bolt

The Chevrolet Bolt EV is due to be released later this year, and is expected to compete closely with the Tesla Model 3. Right now, it looks like Chevy will be beating Tesla to market. According to USA Today, The Model 3 is planned to be widely released in mid- or late-2017, with new orders not set for delivery until 2018.

Beating Tesla’s car to market could be good news for Chevrolet. GM’s entry-level company has boasted that the Bolt’s range can best that of its Tesla competitor. Chevrolet’s electric vehicle is expected to clear over 235 miles per charge, compared to the Model 3’s 215.

The Verge Transportation Reporter Jordan Golson took to the digital publication to share an extensive preview of the new electric vehicle, along with his notes from a test drive. The big takeaway? It doesn’t feel like an electric car. It feels like an ordinary four-wheeled road ready vehicle, and that familiar feel may be able to push consumers in the direction of electric vehicles.

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Google Duo Update

Late this past Summer, Google entered into the video messaging space when they launched Duo. In an announcement on the company blog, they highlighted the 1-to-1 video app’s simple design and intuitive interface. One of its primary goals is to provide users with a seamless video chat. To do this, the app will actively adjust call quality depending on available bandwidth. It can also switch between wifi and cellular data so that calls won’t drop when a signal does. Duo can also be used with an Android device to place calls to an iOS device. This lets it compete with FaceTime which is only compatible with Apple products.

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Aetna + Apple Watch

Aetna wants to make Apple Watches more accessible, reports CNET. The health insurance provider announced plans to launch a program that will allow partners to provide employees with the smartwatch for a reduced rate, and possibly for no cost at all. The brief report likens this decision to provide the technology to subsidizing gym memberships and activity trackers. The Apple Watch has already drawn some comparisons to popular fitness tracker fitbit, and it makes sense that an insurance provider would like to make it easier to access tools that can help monitor an individual’s health. At their most recent World Wide Developer’s Conference, Apple unveiled an improved HealthKit, a developer’s tool that stores health and wellness information across iOS and watchOS devices.

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EV Charging Solutions

Electric vehicle sales are climbing. But  some consumers are hesitant to make the switch because of concerns that EVs can’t carry them long distances. And as long as charging infrastructure remains sparse, this is a valid concern. But the problem of too few charging stations may have found a (temporary) solution in the sharing economy.

Scientific American profiled the “Airbnbs of charging”, networks that allow users to offer use of their private EV outlets. These listings supplement public outlets provided by cities, local entrepreneurs and corporate investments. Right now, there are 13,925 public charging stations in America. But taking private listings into account increase that number increases. This is true outside of the US, too. In Sweden, Renault Group’s Elbnb app has increased the number of available stations by 40%.

But the network of charging stations is not without its faults. There is no standardized outlet, so any given EV may not be able to plug into the station that’s available. There’s also the issue of time— it can take several hours to charge your vehicle. This presents an issue on an individual level (getting behind schedule on a business or road trip), and a shared one (potential wait times to use a private station). Before setting out on a trip, sometimes one isn’t sure of where charging stations will be along the route. The private model is an improvement but is a potential disaster for scheduling and trip planning.

Plugshare is a company that is trying to fix that. While they allow users to list their private stations, they also want to install charging stations alongside highways. This way, drivers can have a better idea of when and where they can charge.

Plugging in isn’t the only “charging” concern. What about money? As the article points out, using solar panels makes sharing your charger virtually free. But only a handful of states has legislation that clarifies the resale of electric energy. Some EV manufacturers like Tesla and Nissan are offering free use of their charging networks for a limited time. Others are charging fees based on time spent at the station or by the kWH.

This hasn’t solved all the problems, but there are plenty of solutions being explored.

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