Apollo software engineer Margaret Hamilton receives Presidential Medal of Freedom

Amid all the publicity given to the more "famous" people recently awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom was Margaret Hamilton. She invented the term “software engineer” starting her career as a computer programmer at MIT in the 1960s. In August 1961, NASA issued a contract to MIT to design the Apollo spacecraft’s guidance and navigational system. Hamilton presided over the in-flight software group. You can read more about her work on NASA's website.

Real time avatar in Shakespeare's Tempest

The Royal Shakespeare Company is putting on a groundbreaking production of The Tempest in which the sprite Ariel, a central character in the play, is visualised by an avatar driven in real-time by an actor, Mark Quartley. Both the actor and the digital avatar are visible to the audience. As a big Shakespeare fan I'd love to see this performance and I can see how this fusion of technology and acting could be used in other Shakespeare plays; obviously Puck and the fairies in Midsummer Night's Dream and  Banquo's ghost in Macbeth. Ars Technica has an interesting review of the production and you get a behind the scenes look in the video below.

McDonald’s To Open 25,000 Robot-Run Restaurants

It looks inevitable that more and more jobs will be lost to robots in the foreseeable future. With the advent of self-driving vehicles it's clear that many driving jobs are under threat. However, less obvious jobs, like working in fast-food restaurants, are now under threat. McDonald’s has recently announced that it plans to open 25,000 robot-run restaurants. Now it's clear that McDonalds has missed its 2016 target, but the threat is still there.