Amazon has a new partnership with Best Buy, NASA is looking at blockchain technology as a way to help with deep space travel, and Abu Dhabi is getting an operational hyperloop by 2020.
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http://variety.com/2018/digital/news/amazon-best-buy-insignia-toshiba-fire-tv-edition-1202756756/
From Twitter – It looks like Amazon isn’t trying to kill off Best Buy after all. In an increasing effort to get more of its physical products in stores, the two tech companies have signed a multi-year partnership that makes Best Buy the exclusive retail partner to sell Amazon’s Fire TV products in its retail locations. Best Buy will also sell the 11 TV sets on its own website, and in addition, will become an official Amazon seller and offer those devices through Amazon.com. However, while the online component is a first, Amazon’s main purpose with this partnership is to get its TVs into stores. Since few people shop for a TV without first checking it out in a store, this is a great opportunity for Amazon to continue to put its devices into the home. And remember, this is just the beginning, so there may be more to this partnership down the line.
From Google Trends – NASA has received a new three hundred and thirty thousand dollar grant to research and develop autonomous spacecraft, and it could be using the blockchain technology powering cryptocurrency Ethereum. The goal of the research is to create a spacecraft that could make some decisions without human intervention, such as being able to dodge space debris. To do so, it would use the same technology that Ethereum uses to do things like automatically run a transaction when conditions are met. Hypothetically, this means that a spacecraft running this tech could execute its own commands in a similar manner. Now while the idea of these spacecrafts sounds awesome, there is no actual timeline for when we can expect to see it in reality.
And from LinkedIn – Hyperloop Transportation Technologies has been given the OK to start building a Hyperloop track in Abu Dhabi with the goal to have it operational by 2020. It will be a 10 kilometer track that is developed close to the site of Expo 2020 and the Al Maktoum International Airport. The hope is to have a portion of it operational for Expo 2020, a festival held in Dubai between October 20, 2020 and April 10, 2021 that is expected to draw millions of visitors. Once this portion is completed, HTT plans to expand the track to connect other cities in the area.
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