I've been involved with cluster computing ever since DEC introduced VAXcluster in 1984. Today you can build a much more powerful cluster for under $1,000, including much more storage than anyone could afford back then. Hadoop is the open-source version of Google's Map/Reduce and Google File System (GFS), widely used for large data-crunching applications. It is a shared-nothing cluster, which means that as you add cluster nodes, performance scales up smoothly. Raspberry Pi: Hands-on with the Pi-Desktop kit Raspberry Pi's smaller, cheaper rival: NanoPi Neo Plus2 weighs in at $25 This is why you need to learn the Raspberry Pi 3 (ZDNet Academy) Building a 300 node Raspberry Pi supercomputer Raspberry Pi: Google plans more AI projects to follow DIY voice recognition kit Raspberry Pi computing cluster: What I'm using it for, and what I've added to it In the paper, Performance of a Low Cost Hadoop Cluster for Image Analysis, researchers Basit Qureshia, Yasir Javeda, Anis Kouba, Mohamed-Foued Sritic, and Maram Alajlan, built a 20 node RPi Model 2 cluster, brought up Hadoop on it, and used it for surveillance drone image analysis.

After an intense two-day search, local military forces Friday recovered the body of a U.S. Army commando who was inadvertently left behind after a daylight ambush by militants killed three other Green Berets in a rugged border region in Niger. Pentagon officials had not previously announced that a Green Beret was missing in action after the surprise attack on a joint patrol of U.S. commandos and Nigerien troops Wednesday. Six of the 12 Americans on the patrol were killed or wounded. Officials hoped the missing U.S. Army Special Forces operative might still be hiding in the dense brush, rather than taken captive, and launched a massive search-and-rescue mission with aerial drones and other aircraft, as well as Nigerien ground forces. The death of four Green Berets in remote West Africa marks the worst single loss of U.S. forces under fire since President Trump took office.

Automation is coming after jobs, from fast food workers to accountants. We analyzed which jobs are most -- and least -- at risk, given factors including tasks involved, the current commercial deployment of technology, patent activity, regulations, and more. The shift from traditional manufacturing to computer-enabled industry took nearly a century. But the shift from personal computing to billions of smartphones, massive networks, and the IoT has taken just a couple of decades. And the next phase of technological evolution is already underway: advanced neural networks that learn, adapt, and respond to situations. With AI and automation advancing at a breakneck pace, society's capacity to respond is being stretched to the limit. Automation is already all around us. Cities are seeing front-end automated restaurants like Eatsa gaining popularity, while in factories automation has already arguably been a part of life for years (if not decades) in the form of heavy industrial and agricultural robots. Analyzing the automation landscape, we found that 10 million service and warehouse jobs are at high risk of displacement within the next 5 – 10 years in the US alone. This includes jobs like cooks and servers, cleaners and janitors, as well as warehouse workers. Meanwhile, nearly 5 million retail workers are at a medium risk of automation within 10 years. To put these numbers into perspective, estimates are that over a few years the Great Recession of 2007 – 2010 destroyed 8.7 million jobs in the US.

Boeing has announced that it's buying Aurora Flight Sciences, a company that is developing autonomous flying vehicles. Aurora's strengths are in creating aircraft that take off and land vertically, and is looking to eliminate pilots from the equation entirely. The company has been working on such technology for the better part of three decades, and also worked with Uber on its own flying taxi project. Aurora's main business is in advancing the world of military aircraft, and has won several contracts from NASA and DARPA. Most famously, the company won funding to build phase two of the VTOL X-Plane -- beating out both Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The VTOL X-Plane (codenamed LightningStrike) promises to achieve top flight speeds of up to 400 knots with a more efficient hover and lift-to-drag ratio.

Convenience store chain Lawson Inc. and Japanese cybermall operator said Friday that they will organize a demonstration test on Oct. 31 for drone delivery services in an area devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and the subsequent nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture. The test will be conducted in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, utilizing a Lawson outlet, a mobile shop and Rakuten's drone. When the traveling shop visits areas some 2.7 km from the convenience store, it will take orders from local residents and deliver products from the outlet, including warm cooked food. The service will be available only on Thursdays during the test, and the experiment will be conducted over a period of six months. The drone can carry up to 2 kg of products and deliver them in about seven minutes.

Two other Special Forces soldiers were also wounded in the Niger ambush; Lucas Tomlinson has the story for'Special Report.' There was no U.S. surveillance drone overhead at the time of the ambush in Niger which killed three U.S. Army Green Berets and wounded two others Wednesday, multiple officials familiar with the matter tell Fox News. In addition, Fox News has learned the dead and injured soldiers were taken from the firefight by French Puma helicopters. Only one U.S. helicopter was available to pick up the Green Berets. It is not clear why it wasn't used.

WASHINGTON – Federal investigators have opened their first probe of a midair collision between a civilian drone and a traditional aircraft. An Army UH-60 helicopter was flying east of Staten Island on Sept. 21 when it collided with a small, consumer Phantom 4 drone, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a press release Thursday. The Federal Aviation Administration, which is assisting the investigation, has logged more than 1,000 reports of drone safety incidents, including cases of the devices flying close to jetliners. DJI is assisting the NTSB investigation, the company said in an emailed statement.

In this Oct. 4, 2017, photo, Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif stands during a meeting with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at the State Department in Washington. Pakistan said Oct. 5, its influence over the Taliban has diminished since a U.S. drone strike killed the militant group's leader last year, derailing talks aimed at bringing peace to Afghanistan. Asif said Pakistan wants peace in the neighboring country, and still has some influence over the militant group, "but it's not as much as it used to be." (AP Photo/Cliff Owen) The Associated Press

Technology research company Cambridge Consultants has unveiled a drone delivery concept called DelivAir that delivers a package directly into someone's hands, using coded patterns sent via a phone's LED flash to identify the recipient. The company says this type of delivery is ideal for items that are needed instantly or critically like a first aid kit to a hiker, emergency relief packages to disaster areas, or for delivering medical supplies like an EpiPen. Delivering a package is a two-stage process: first, the DelivAir drone uses GPS to locate a person via their smartphone. Then, it switches to optical tracking and a 3D-imaging and ranging system to locate and authenticate the person receiving the package when they come into view. Once the drone reaches the delivery area, the recipient points their mobile phone's flash at the drone, which blinks the coded pattern.

Intel has begun pushing the boundaries of wildlife research by using artificial intelligence-based drones for observation. Drones have been used to unobtrusively gather video and other data on wildlife, from polar bears to whales. In honor of World Animal Day, Intel said its AI-based drones have been used in two wildlife research expeditions. Intel collaborated with a wildlife photographer on one expedition and teamed up with conservationist and nonprofit organizations Parley for the Oceans and Ocean Alliance on another trip. The drones help scientists explore nature in safer, more efficient, and less invasive ways.