Archive for the 'Technology' Category
How Police Departments Use Civil Forfeiture to Collect Billions
March 15th, 2017Whenever you hear about tips to the police from confidential informants or “concerned citizens,” etc. keep this in mind: U.S. Communications Intelligence Secretly Shared with Law Enforcement for Use Against Americans in Criminal Investigations. So, mass surveillance and civil forfeiture: Is there a link? “It is the height of naivete to think that once collected […]
NSA Routinely Monitors Americans’ Communications Without Warrants
March 15th, 2017Are They building electronic dossiers on as many of us as they can? I don’t know, but it sure looks that way. —Cryptogon, 2007: NSA, AT&T and the NarusInsight Intercept Suite In Open Thread: Trump Wiretap Claims, I wrote: Where is the uproar over the spook’s data center in Utah? Man, if you think that […]
Google’s DeepMind Makes AI Program that Learns Sequentially
March 14th, 2017Via: Guardian: Researchers have overcome one of the major stumbling blocks in artificial intelligence with a program that can learn one task after another using skills it acquires on the way. Developed by Google’s AI company, DeepMind, the program has taken on a range of different tasks and performed almost as well as a human. […]
Former Tesla Executive to Build €4bn Battery Factory to Take on Elon Musk
March 13th, 2017Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: Independent: NorthVolt, the Swedish company founded by a former Tesla executive, wants to cut the cost of storing power in half with a €4bn (£3.5bn) lithium-ion battery factory. The Stockholm-based company wants to raise €1bn by 2018, when it plans to break ground on […]
Intel Buying Mobileye for $15 Billion
March 13th, 2017Via: Recode: Cars coming off the assembly line in the next few years will have computing power to rival your cellphones, and they’ll get even more complex as automakers introduce more self-driving technology. That’s why Intel — known for its chips, data centers and computing capabilities — just bought self-driving tech supplier Mobileye for $15 […]
Pi-hole: A Black Hole for Internet Advertisements
March 13th, 2017Via: Pi-hole:
San Francisco: Imbeciles Paying $1900 Per Month to Live in House with Dozens of Roommates
March 11th, 2017Man, if you thought the Podshare story from January was nuts, be sitting down for this one. That Podshare place looks like a 5-Star resort compared to this. Via: Reuters: Zander Dejah, 25, pays $1,900 a month rent to live in a downtown San Francisco house with at least 40 other people, many of whom […]
FBI Used Best Buy’s Geek Squad To Increase Secret Public Surveillance
March 11th, 2017Via: OC Weekly: Recently unsealed records reveal a much more extensive secret relationship than previously known between the FBI and Best Buy’s Geek Squad, including evidence the agency trained company technicians on law-enforcement operational tactics, shared lists of targeted citizens and, to covertly increase surveillance of the public, encouraged searches of computers even when unrelated […]
California: State DMV Backs Allowing Self-Driving Cars with No Human on Board
March 11th, 2017Via: San Francisco Chronicle: Self-driving cars with no human behind the wheel — or, for that matter, any steering wheel at all — may soon appear on California’s public roads, under regulations state officials proposed Friday. The rules represent a delicate balance, trying to ensure the safety of a new technology many people don’t trust […]
Musk on South Australia Grid Crisis: Tesla Will Install 100 MWh of Powerpacks Within 100 Days of Contract Signature or It’s Free
March 10th, 2017“That serious enough for you?” Via: Reuters: Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk on Friday offered to save Australia’s most renewable-energy dependent state from blackouts by installing $25 million worth of battery storage within 100 days, and offering it for free if he missed the target. The offer follows a string of power outages in the […]
