Archive for January, 2016
Zika Has ‘Explosive Pandemic Potential’
January 28th, 2016Here we go again. Via: Independent: The Zika virus has the potential to become an “explosive pandemic” amid fears it may have already crossed to the common mosquito – thereby increasing its chances of being spreading around the world. Brazilian experts at Oswaldo Cruz Foundation believe the virus, which was originally thought to be confined […]
Mystery Illness Forces LA-Bound Plane to Return to London
January 28th, 2016Via: Independent: An American Airlines flight to Los Angeles was forced to return to London Heathrow after seven flight staff and many passengers collapsed due to mysterious illness. Passengers were shocked to see flight attendants collapse in the aisles, sparking fears about contamination in the air conditioning. When Flight AA109 was airborne near Keflavik in […]
Y Combinator: Basic Income
January 27th, 2016Cryptogon 2014: Something like a basic income could emerge, but it will probably only be enough to survive in a setting akin to a favela. The purpose of the basic income will be to prevent a disorderly societal collapse as machine labor really takes off. — Any objective observer can see that so-called “Advanced” economies […]
California Police Used Stingrays in Planes to Spy on Phones
January 27th, 2016Via: Wired: The government’s use of a controversial invasive technology for tracking phones just got a little more controversial. The Anaheim Police Department has acknowledged in new documents that it uses surveillance devices known as Dirtboxes—plane-mounted stingrays—on aircraft flying above the Southern California city that is home to Disneyland, one of the most popular tourist […]
Early Antibiotic Use ‘May Predispose Children to Weight Gain and Asthma’
January 27th, 2016Via: BBC: The use of antibiotics in young children may alter the natural populations of gut microbes in a way that leaves them predisposed to weight gain and asthma in later childhood, according to new research. The study of 236 children aged between two and seven, with a median age of five, backs earlier research […]
Google Achieves AI ‘Breakthrough’ by Beating Go Champion
January 27th, 2016Via: BBC: A Google artificial intelligence program has beaten the European champion of the board game Go. The Chinese game is viewed as a much tougher challenge than chess for computers because there are many more ways a Go match can play out. The tech company’s DeepMind division said its software had beaten its human […]
Japan: Automated, Clean Room Agriculture
January 27th, 2016Via: TechInsider: The Japanese lettuce production company Spread believes the farmers of the future will be robots. So much so that Spread is creating the world’s first farm manned entirely by robots. Instead of relying on human farmers, the indoor Vegetable Factory will employ robots that can harvest 30,000 heads of lettuce every day. Don’t […]
Americans Hate the U.S. Government More Than Ever
January 27th, 2016Via: CBS: A handful of industries are those “love to hate” types of businesses, such as cable-television companies and Internet service providers. The federal government has joined the ranks of the bottom-of-the-barrel industries, according to a new survey from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Americans’ satisfaction level in dealing with federal agencies –everything from Treasury […]
Oregon Standoff Spokesman Robert ‘LaVoy’ Finicum Killed, Bundys in Custody After Shooting Near Burns
January 27th, 2016Update: About 10 Insurgents Remain at Malheur — Update: Insurgent Firing at UAV One of those guys just took a few shots at a UAV. DefendYourBase Livestream — Update: Possible Livestreamer Inside Malheur This purports to be a livestream from one of the people holding the Malheur facility. As of this update, there’s radio chatter […]
Orison Battery: Plug and Play Home Energy Storage
January 25th, 2016Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Wow! Pretty cool, but, questions, questions… * How does it know when your solar system is making excess power? Current clamp? Inverter coms? Other? * How, specifically, does it deal with grid failures (islanding)? In other news, over in Germany, SMA just teased their new […]