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Walmart 30-Minute Drone Delivery Expands to 4 Million Homes

Plus AAA tests the safety of vehicle drive-assist features, ed tech firm Masterschool raises $100 million and a new cyberthreat, "smishing," is on the rise.

drone carrying a Walmart delivery

30 MINUTES


That’s how quickly you could have an order from Walmart delivered to your home via drone. The retail giant has been testing a drone delivery program since 2020 and is now expanding its DroneUp network to offer the service to 4 million homes in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah and Virginia. Walmart anticipates that drones will be able to deliver 1 million orders annually before 2022 comes to a close.
Source: Engadget

CRASH TEST


In a recent series of trials, AAA found that the active driving assist feature on all tested passenger cars resulted in head-on collisions with oncoming vehicles in traffic lanes. Only the Tesla Model 3 managed to at least slow down as it approached the oncoming car. In one-third of the tests, the cars slammed into cyclists crossing travel lanes. AAA urged carmakers to improve these existing driver assist functions before moving on to more fully autonomous goals.
Source: Gizmodo

SOMETHING'S SMISHY


“Smishing,” a portmanteau of “SMS” and “phishing,” is on the rise. While most phishing attempts are still made via email, the number of text messages enticing users to click on malicious links is gaining ground, up 24 percent in the U.S. last year, according to security company Proofpoint. Experts say that although users are more accustomed to being on alert for suspicious emails, text attacks are less familiar and easier to fall for. Source: CNET

$100M


Masterschool, an ed-tech company aiming to address the shortage of IT talent, in May announced it had raised $100 million in a seed funding round. Based in Israel, Masterschool offers a platform where tech experts or companies can launch their own online schools that will prepare students for careers in the field. The platform provides the back-end infrastructure and technology needed to teach the courses. Student tuition is $15,000, with payment deferred until the graduate lands a job earning at least $30,000 annually.
Source: Venture Beat
Lauren Kinkade is the managing editor for Government Technology magazine. She has a degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and more than 15 years’ experience in book and magazine publishing.