Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Amazon Challenges Pentagon’s $10-billion Cloud Award to Microsoft
November 15th, 2019Via: Reuters: Amazon.com Inc on Thursday said it is contesting the Pentagon’s award of an up to $10 billion cloud computing deal to Microsoft Corp, expressing concern that politics got in the way of a fair contracting process. The company filed notice last Friday that it will formally protest the decision on the Joint Enterprise […]
Engineer Created Algorithm That Can Remove Strong Blue-Green Color Cast and Backscatter from Underwater Photographs
November 15th, 2019Not Photoshop levels, hue, saturation, etc. Wild results. Via: PetaPixel: An engineer has developed a computer program that can, in her words, “remove the water” from an underwater photograph. The result is a “physically accurate” image with all of the vibrance, saturation and color of a regular landscape photo. The technology, called Sea-thru, was developed […]
How Chilean Protesters Took Down a Drone With Standard Laser Pointers
November 14th, 2019Via: Nextgov: Video of Chilean protesters using beams of green light to ground a police drone made the rounds on social media Wednesday. But those aren’t tractor beams or Green Lantern rings—the protesters appear to be using run-of-the-mill laser pointers to take down law enforcement-grade technology. How does that work? Chilean protesters took to the […]
Ford Will Unveil Electric Mustang on November 17 in Los Angeles
November 14th, 2019Update: Leaked — Via: Electrek: Ford’s all-new, all-electric SUV will don the iconic pony badge and the name Mustang Mach-E when reservations for the vehicle open after it is revealed this Sunday. The all-electric Mustang Mach-E will make its debut Nov. 17 at an event in Los Angeles that will be streamed on YouTube, Facebook, […]
Two-Legged Robot Mimics Human Balance While Running and Jumping
November 13th, 2019It’s always for first responders, fire rescue, etc. “High-impact tasks in challenging environments.” I’m sure the Pentagon wouldn’t have any use for this… *wink* Via: MIT News: Rescuing victims from a burning building, a chemical spill, or any disaster that is inaccessible to human responders could one day be a mission for resilient, adaptable robots. […]
Nimitz UFO Encounters: Enlisted Sailors Insist Data Was Confiscated by “Two Unknown Individuals”
November 13th, 2019Erase everything, including the blank media. Nice. In other words, make sure all the tapes were wiped in case anything interesting was left behind after the “unknown individuals” walked off with the bulk of the evidence. Then they hung out in the Admiral’s quarters with a guard posted outside. Swamp gas, obviously. Again, I think […]
AI Clones Your Voice After Listening for 5 Seconds
November 13th, 2019Must listen examples at the link. Via: Google: We describe a neural network-based system for text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis that is able to generate speech audio in the voice of many different speakers, including those unseen during training. Our system consists of three independently trained components: (1) a speaker encoder network, trained on a speaker verification […]
Google Reportedly Plans To Offer Checking Accounts Next Year
November 13th, 2019Via: Forbes: While previous attempts from big tech companies like Facebook and Apple to get into financial services have met with obstacles and regulatory scrutiny, Google will become the latest Silicon Valley leader to push into the banking space, as it plans to offer checking accounts starting next year, the Wall Street Journal first reported.
YouTube: Accounts Can Be Deleted if ‘No Longer Commercially Viable’
November 13th, 2019Via: PC Magazine: YouTube’s attempt to explain when it can terminate your account has led to confusion among its most prolific users. The Google-owned video platform chose a curious way to explain it, implying that YouTube can delete your account if your videos alienate advertisers. “YouTube may terminate your access, or your Google account’s access […]
Federal Judge Rules Suspicionless Device Searches at the Border Are Illegal
November 13th, 2019Via: Engadget: Civil liberties advocates just scored an important victory in a bid to prevent arbitrary device searches at the US border. A federal court handling a 2017 lawsuit has ruled that US policies allowing device searches without valid suspicion or warrants violate Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Judge Denise Casper noted […]
