Andrew J. Hawkins

Elon Musk’s company is getting ready to debut its supposedly not-fake humanoid robot, Optimus, during its “AI Day” event September 30th. What evidence do we have that it won’t just be another a person in a spandex robot costume doing an extremely awkward dance? There have been meetings! And job postings! And Elon tweeted that there may be a working prototype! Look, this will either be a major breakthrough in the field of robotics or a spectacular flop. But considering Musk has already solved the problem of self-driving cars, I’m inclined to— what’s that? [touches earpiece] I’m being told he hasn’t solved the problem of self-driving cars? And that humanoid robots could prove even more difficult? Oh well, then bring on the spandex dancers I guess.

Curbed’s Alissa Walker has a great interview with Globe and Mail reporter Josh O’Kane, who’s new book Sideways: The City Google Couldn’t Buy is the definitive account of the failed effort by Sidewalk Labs to build “a city from the internet up.” It’s also an interesting look into the rise and fall of the smart city movement in the 2010s, which presumed that residents would willingly share their own personal data in exchange for city services.

I’ll take the L on this: back when Ford first filed the patent on a new technology that would allow vehicle owners to rev their engines remotely by using a key fob, I predicted we wouldn’t see it in a production car anytime soon. How wrong I was! “Remote Rev” is coming to the seventh generation pony car next year. Why would anyone want to do this, you might ask? TBD!