Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Google Goes Offline After Fibre Cables Cut
December 20th, 2019Via: BBC: Severed fibre optic cables disrupted internet access in parts of eastern Europe, Iran and Turkey on Thursday. The issue, which lasted for about two hours, was caused by multiple fibre cables being physically cut at the same time, a highly unusual thing to happen. Google said its services were among those unavailable in […]
Warrant Not Always Needed for ‘Inadvertent’ NSA Surveillance of Americans
December 19th, 2019This sort of fluff is nothing compared to: “It’s just like laundering money – you work it backwards to make it clean.” Enjoy your 4th Amendment. Via: Reuters: The U.S. government may collect information about U.S. citizens without obtaining a warrant if the information is gathered inadvertently while legally carrying out surveillance of non-nationals abroad, […]
Robot Can Make 300 Pizzas an Hour
December 19th, 2019Via: Fox 5 NY: A robot will be serving food to thousands of guests at next month’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Seattle-based Picnic says its automated food assembly system will produce up to 300 12-inch customized pizzas an hour on the CES show floor. … The company ran a test pilot with […]
Surveillance Footage Outside of Jeffrey Epstein’s Cell During Suicide Attempt Is Missing
December 18th, 2019Maybe prison officials handed the data over to NASA for safekeeping. Via: New York Daily News: Surveillance footage of the outside of Jeffrey Epstein’s cell at the troubled Metropolitan Correctional Center during his suicide attempt has gone missing, prosecutors revealed Wednesday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Swergold admitted nobody can find the footage of the outside […]
NASA’s X-59 Quiet Supersonic Research Aircraft Cleared for Final Assembly
December 16th, 2019For some of the black world context, definitely see: Lockheed Martin SR-72. Via: NASA: NASA’s first large scale, piloted X-plane in more than three decades is cleared for final assembly and integration of its systems following a major project review by senior managers held Thursday at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The management review, known as […]
Recently Retired USAF General Makes Eyebrow Raising Claims About Advanced Space Technology
December 16th, 2019Update: Is Starlink Going to Drop The American Culture Bomb on China? If you’re like me, you’ve been wondering: What is Starlink’s actual purpose? I didn’t entirely believe the prosaic narrative about better rural broadband Internet and a funding source for Elon Musk’s Mars aspirations, etc. Well, it might be about those things at some […]
How the 1% Scrubs Its Image Online
December 13th, 2019Via: Wall Street Journal: Jacob Gottlieb was considering raising money for a hedge fund. One problem: His last one had collapsed in a scandal. … So last year Mr. Gottlieb hired Status Labs, an Austin, Texas-based company specializing in so-called reputation management. Its tactic: a favorable news blitz to eclipse the negative stories. Afterward, articles […]
The World’s First 3D-Printed Neighborhood Now Has Its First Houses
December 13th, 2019Via: FastCompany: A giant 3D printer is currently squeezing out new homes in rural Mexico. Each one takes 24 hours and lets local families upgrade from a shack to a two-bedroom house. Could this be part of the global housing solution?
A Self-Driving Freight Truck Just Drove Across the Country to Deliver Butter
December 12th, 2019Autonomous freight transportation? Yes, now/soon/regulatory barriers. Autonomous robotaxis? Don’t hold your breath. Automakers Are Rethinking the Timetable for Fully Autonomous Cars: My guess is that, if it happens, it will happen in the freight market first. Freight is a walk in the park compared to the robotaxi concept that Musk is talking about. With freight, […]
Google Hands Feds 1,500 Phone Locations In Unprecedented ‘Geofence’ Search
December 12th, 2019If the mobile radio is on, always assume that the device is phoning home your location, and a deluge of other privacy compromising information. If airplane mode is on, assume it will transmit your movements as soon as as you turn off airplane mode and it connects to the Internet. If the mobile radio is […]
