Technology & Innovation Videos - The Documentary Network

It’s Getting Harder to Spot a Deep Fake Video

Documentary.net staff — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 12:11:13 +0000

Fake videos and audio keep getting better, faster and easier to make, increasing the mind-blowing technology's potential for harm if put in the wrong hands. Bloomberg QuickTake explains how good deep fakes have gotten in the last few months, and what's being done to counter them. Video by Henry Baker, Christian Capestany

The breakthrough in renewable energy

Documentary.net staff — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 02:03:57 +0000

It’s not in the papers but a silent revolution is moving across the world. Renewable energy is becoming cheaper than energy from fossil fuels. It means that progressively the choice for wind and solar energy is no longer an ethical one but an economic one. And this will speed up the transfer to renewable energy.

Meet the 26-Year-Old Hacker Who Built a Self-Driving Car… in His Garage

Documentary.net staff — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 10:20:04 +0000

George Hotz, the first person to hack the iPhone, says he built a self-driving car in a month. How did he do it? Bloomberg's Ashlee Vance went to Hotz's home to find out... and took his retrofitted Acura for a test-drive. According to Bloomberg, Elon Musk - CEO of Tesla, wanted to contract Hotz to develop the system for Tesla or to simply work for the company:

“Frankly, I think you should just work at Tesla. I’m happy to work out a multimillion-dollar bonus with a longer time horizon that pays out as soon as we discontinue Mobileye.”

Hotz replied:

“I appreciate the offer. but like I’ve said, I’m not looking for a job. I’ll ping you when I crush Mobileye.”

Musk answered with his well-known one-word email “OK”. The now 26-year old hacker decided to found his own company, comma.ai, to develop level 3 autonomous driving systems, which translate into about 99% self-driving. Read the reaction from Tesla here

The Clock of the Long Now

Documentary.net staff — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 17:23:22 +0000

The Clock of the Long Now is a portrait of Danny Hillis and his brilliant team of inventors, futurists, and engineers as they build The 10,000 Year Clock—a grand, Stone Henge-like monolith, being constructed in a mountain in West Texas. The film, like the clock itself, celebrates the power of long-term thinking and mankind’s insatiable thirst to solve life’s biggest problems. Director: Jimmy Goldblum & Adam Weber Director of Photography: Will Basanta Associate Producer: Alice K. Dugan Line Producer: Elizabeth Ai Executive Producer: Jeremy Yaches Editor: Isaac Hagy Colorist: Seth Ricart for Ricart & Co. Original Music: Dan Romer and Michael Tuccillo Sound Design & Mix: Stephen Davies & Diego Jimenez for Hobo Audio Post Producer: Jason Goldman

The New Studio for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Documentary.net staff — Fri, 09 Oct 2015 11:10:47 +0000

Design Republic was honored to work with CBS and the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on this breathtaking restoration, which revealed and renewed the otherwise lost grandeur of this neo-gothic Broadway theater's design. "I was a little hesitant because I didn't know anything about the space as a performer," Colbert says in the video, which was produced by the firm behind the redesign (Design Republic). "I just knew that it had been a Broadway theater and I didn't know whether we could return it to something that looked different than what Mr. Letterman had ... but I also didn't want to ruin the intimacy that Dave had created."

Germany: Danger beneath the sea

Documentary.net staff — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 15:14:59 +0000

Unexploded munitions from World War II can still be found at the bottom of the North and Baltic seas. As well as an environmental hazard, they also affect the building of offshore wind parks. Now plans are underway to clear the munitions.

Ukraine’s Crowdfunded Military & Weaponized Drones

Documentary.net staff — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 15:44:19 +0000

Crowd-funding campaigns can raise money for some pretty wacky projects, such as asteroid defense or images of brains on LSD. But rarely do you hear of campaigns raising funds for military equipment. Enter the People’s Project, a volunteer-led organization based in Ukraine that has a section currently raising funds for a military drone.

The war in eastern Ukraine has cost the lives of over 6,000 people. And despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary Russia continues to deny its involvement in the war. Although the Ukrainians asked the US for support they have been given very little to fight the russian-backed separatist. Facing another collapsing cease-fire without any serious support from the west, Ukrainian citizens have taken it upon themselves to build and supply their military with proper equipment including crowdfunding surveillance drones and now some have even begun building weaponized drones.

Zero days – Security Leaks for Sale

Documentary.net staff — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 16:27:30 +0000

There is new gold to be found on the internet, and possibly in your own computer. Secret backdoors, that do not have a digital lock yet, are being traded at astronomical amounts. In the cyber world trade, where there are no rules, you are in luck with "white-hat" hackers, who guard your online security. But their opponents, the "black-hat" hackers, have an interest in an unsecure internet, and sell security leaks to the highest bidder. They are the preferred suppliers of security services and cyber defence. Who are these black and white wizards, who fight for the holy grail of hackers: zero days?

Uncanny Lover: Building a Sex Robot

Documentary.net staff — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 13:24:39 +0000

Matt McMullen is developing a sex robot that uses technology to create the illusion of sentience. But is it enough to generate real emotions in its user?

Matt McMullen has proved that some people are willing to spend thousands on sex dolls.

Mr. McMullen, the creator of the RealDoll, says he has sold over 5,000 customizable, life-size dolls since 1996, with prices from $5,000 to $10,000. Not only can his customers decide on body type and skin, hair and eye color, but on a recent day in the company’s factory in San Marcos, Californi, a craftsman was even furnishing one doll with custom-ordered toes.

Mr. McMullen’s new project, which he is calling Realbotix, is an attempt to animate the doll. He has assembled a small team that includes engineers who have worked for Hanson Robotics, a robotics lab that produces shockingly lifelike humanoid robots.

Broken Dreams: The Boeing 787

Documentary.net staff — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 22:14:00 +0000

Will Jordan investigates Boeing's "Dreamliner", finding some workers with quality concerns, alleging drug use and fearing to fly the plane they build. The film reveals the deeply-held safety concerns of current and former Boeing engineers, who in some cases fear to fly on the 787, the plane they build. We uncover allegations of on-the-job drug use, quality control problems and poor workmanship. We also explore the roots of the battery problems that led to the plane’s grounding due to safety concerns for three months from January 2013.

The Tech Threat

Documentary.net staff — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 18:58:40 +0000

The United States and other developed countries are in the midst of a digital revolution that may be even more profound than the industrial revolutions of the past. Advances in robotics, cognitive computing and other digital technologies promise untold benefits in a world of leisure hard to imagine. But there is also a dark side to this technological change. It could lead to joblessness for most and extreme inequality, threatening economic health and political stability. Tension over rising inequality and a lack of good-paying middle class jobs is growing in Silicon Valley and nearby San Francisco, the epicentre of computerisation and the information economy. In San Francisco, buses for Google, Facebook and other companies ferry high-paid tech workers to their jobs in Silicon Valley. This allows tens of thousands to live in the city, fuelling popular anger over gentrification and high housing prices that are pushing longtime residents out. In San Franciso – as elsewhere in the US – the speed at which top wage earners are pulling away from everyone else is becoming a major issue. According to Martin Ford, author of the new book The Rise of the Robots , "what you see is a few people essentially hoovering up all the income and all the success and everyone else kind of struggling. And one of the implications of digital technologies and the Internet is that more and more of the economy is coming to look like this."

Legendary Kalashnikov: Story of AK-47 Rifle

Documentary.net staff — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 16:19:24 +0000

The Kalashnikov rifle needs no introduction. In this documentary we'll show you its origins, how it's made and tested, who uses it and much more. You'll be taken to the Izhmash manufacturing plant where the rifles are assembled, see elite soldiers from Russia's Interior Ministry train with the world-renowned weapon, and hear American war veterans recall their experiences with the gun. The inventor of the iconic AK-47 assault rifle, Mikhail Kalashnikov, has died at the age of 94.

Short Doc Portrait honors Computing Pioneer Heinz Zemanek who passed away at 94

Documentary.net staff — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 06:34:24 +0000

In the 1950's, a group of Austrian students led by Heinz Zemanek designed and built the Mailüfterl, one of the earliest fully transistorized computers. For a brief moment, this "Viennese spring breeze" put Austria at the vanguard of European computing. ...At the time, leading U.S. machines were named after types of wind, such as MIT’s Whirlwind and RCA Laboratory’s Typhoon. In a gentle nod to this, Zemanek nicknamed his computer Mailüfterl, meaning “May Breeze.” As he joked: "We are not going to produce… any of those big American storms, but we will have a very nice little Viennese spring breeze!” On May 27, 1958 the Mailüfterl ran its first calculation and became mainland Europe’s first fully transistorized computer—and one of the earliest in the world... Zemanek died on Wednesday July 16 2014 in Vienna at the age of 94 years. Film by Google.

A Threat to Internet Freedom

Documentary.net staff — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 01:37:26 +0000

New rules proposed by the F.C.C. could divide the Internet into fast lanes and slow lanes, violating the central concept of "net neutrality." The concept of “network neutrality” has been so central to our experience of the Internet, and such a driving force for innovation and expression, that most of us have taken it for granted. This video explains the basic idea: when you visit a website, the phone or cable company that provides Internet access shouldn’t get in the way. Information should be delivered to you quickly and without discriminating about the content.

The Man Who Turned Paper Into Pixels

Documentary.net staff — Sat, 28 Jun 2014 19:10:22 +0000

It was the change that no-one saw coming: the idea that we could take a book, a painting or a song and send it through cables and wires and even thin air to the other end of the world - and it would be identical on the other side. But this idea underpins everything about the Information Age we live in. How did we make such a mind bending transition into the digital world? And how does it work? It turns out it's all based on a concept that is surprisingly beautiful in its simplicity. This short video essay explores what that idea is and tells you about the man who figured it all out. Computers are everywhere and control almost every aspect of our lives. In the next 6 minutes you'll find out how they really work.