TechHub: Amazon Sets Sights on Fleet of Independent Delivery Vans, See the First Full-Scale Hyperloop Track [Video] and More
TechHub: Machines Learn Complexities of Language, What to Expect for the Factory of the Future and More
June 21, 2018
TechHub: Manufacturing is Hot, Catching Fog Can Be Cool, and Hackers Could Be Lurking on Your Contact Us Page
July 5, 2018
On Wednesday, Amazon said they would offer incentives for entrepreneurs to start their own independent delivery van service for small packages, according to Jane Lanhee Lee from Reuters. This effort is said to address the challenge of getting every package to “the last mile to customer doorsteps.”
Amazon promises to lease a dark gray van with its prime logo unfurled on the side as well as uniforms, fueling plans, and insurance programs for the fleet operators and even classes on tax issues and other small business concerns.
How much to set up this small fleet business? Amazon says a “qualified entrepreneur” could expect start-up costs to be as little as $10,000 – before hiring drivers, of course.
“A 40-vehicle fleet could earn as much as $300,000 a year in profits,” said Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations in the Reuters article. “Clark said he would expect to see operators with 20 to 40 vans employ 100 drivers. Amazon did not offer any details on the incentives or say whether it would pay per delivery, per mile driven or per month.”
Walmart and US grocer chain, Kroger, have also experimented with different delivery methods.
“Earlier this year, Reuters reported that Walmart had ended grocery delivery partnerships with ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft. Walmart has also offered to pay its store employees to complete deliveries on their way home from work. Walmart is now doing grocery delivery with DoorDash and Postmates,” said Lee.
See the First Full-Scale Hyperloop Test Track
Hyperloop Technologies has announced plans to build a 320-meter test track in France. Hyperloop is a theoretical transportation system that “would propel people or cargo-filled pods over long distances through steel tubes. Magnetic levitation and big vacuum pumps would do away with pesky friction and air resistance, letting those bus-sized vehicles zip along at speeds approaching Mach 1,” according to Wired.
Watch the video below to see the first full-scale Hyperloop test track:
Fake WannaCry Sent Via Phishing Emails
SC Media, a cybersecurity news magazine, reported this week that cybercriminals are piggybacking off the success of ransomware attack, WannaCry. These criminals are hoping to extort victims by demanding bitcoin.
The attack starts as a phishing email from a sender claiming to be “‘Wanna-Cry-Hack-Team’ using the misspelled subject line ‘Attantion WannaCry’ threatening to encrypt and permanently delete files if a 0.1 bitcoin ($650) payment isn’t received, according to an alert from the U.K.’s fraud and cybercrime center,” said Robert Abel of SC Media.
These emails claim that the ransomware has the ability to infect systems running Windows, iOS, macOS, Android or Linux – despite the original WannaCry ransomware only impacting Windows.
This isn’t the first time cybercriminals have attempted to piggyback off of “successful” ransomware. “The U.K. authorities have already received more than 300 reports of the fake WannaCry and users to delete and report emails like this and not entrust the fraudsters or pay them,” said Abel.
To go deeper into the patterns of industrial cyber crime and cyber security, join us at Transform 2018 – our annual conference with cyber security sessions such as “The Anatomy of an Attack: How Hackers Break into Industrial Operations,” and a panel session, “Panel: Are the Threats Real? Behind the Scenes on Recent Attacks on Critical Infrastructure.”
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