A marble fuelled musical instrument, the competitive edge to Google’s artificial intelligence and hackers being hired for $60 a day. These are our Friday Finds: three of the top innovations making news in the world this week.
1. Making music with 2000 marbles
Thinking outside the box has never sounded so beautiful. Swedish musician, Martin Molin combined his aptitude for music production with an extensive marble collection and created the Wintergartan Marble Machine. The machine is designed using 3D software and uses 2000 steel marbles to create a musical instrument unlike any other.
The music machine creates an upbeat melody when Molin turns a wooden crank, causing the marbles to roll down a series of laneways and pipes. The marbles drop onto xylophone bars and a range of drum pads, cymbals and a guitar neck (adding and changing sounds with the flip of a wooden lever).
Inspiration and innovation can come in many forms. Molin demonstrates the power of turning traditional concepts of design, approach and execution on their head. Challenge yourself to go against the ‘business as usual’ mentality. “Because that’s how we’ve always done it” is no longer sufficient justification for keeping things the way they are.
2. Major artificial intelligence breakthrough
Intuitive artificial intelligence may be closer than we thought. A Google Deepmind artificial intelligence (named AlphaGo) has won a game of Go (Weiqi) against the world’s best player, Lee Se-dol. The game originated in China and is one of the most creative and complicated games in the world, requiring years for humans to master.
The incomputable number of moves in Go means a player has to use intuition in order to triumph. While previous artificial intelligence have found it easy to outsmart humans at games such as chess, their lack of emotional intelligence has meant that humans have always had the edge in Go—until now.
This win is an historical victory for human advances in artificial intelligence. It foreshadows the strong role technology will play in every aspect of life. Remain relevant and stay ahead of competitors by using innovation and by adopting new technology in your business.
3. Hire a hacker for $60 a day
With Russian computer hackers being hired for just $60 a day, the number of Distributed Denial of Services (DDoS) attacks have grown by 85% within a year. Perhaps it’s time to revisit the data-security measures you have implemented throughout your business.
These attacks have always been a significant concern. The mistake most businesses make is to rely on traditional solutions (using downloadable anti-virus software and not encrypting sensitive information) or to implement security systems only after they have been hacked.
A DDoS attacker has the ability to flood your website with traffic to the point where the servers can’t handle the inflow and your site shuts down. They have been know to ask for ransom or, in the worst cases, penetrate your system and access valuable information they can use to access your finances.
With the rise in professional hackers, it’s more important than ever to secure your business software. When your business is your livelihood, it’s important to take measures to keep it secure.
P.S Want more Friday Finds? Read the latest one here
Know of an interesting news topic or want us to feature your company? Send us a request here. We’re always on the lookout for exciting things happening in the world.
