Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Which Bitcoin Wallet?
January 4th, 2017Update: Going with Electrum To the people who support Cryptogon with Bitcoin: Please see the Support page for the current Bitcoin address. Thank you. — I hadn’t looked at my Bitcoin wallet in a while and I just noticed that a couple of anonymous someones sent me some coin. The blockchain has grown far beyond […]
How Is the Facebook Android App So Diabolical?
January 2nd, 2017Update: How Facebook Learns About Your Offline Life I found this, but it doesn’t mention the “hot mics” issue that is obviously real: How Facebook Learns About Your Offline Life — Can anyone explain this one? During Christmas, I was over at a house with a bunch of family members. My brother in law’s girlfriend […]
Police to Use Information from Internet Connected Appliances
January 2nd, 2017Via: Telegraph: High-tech washing machines and fridges will soon be used by detectives gathering evidence from crime scenes, experts have forecast. The advent of ‘the internet of things’ in which more devices are connected together in a world of ‘smart working’ could in future provide important clues for the police. Detectives are currently being trained […]
Foxconn Plans to Replace Almost Every Human Worker with Robots
January 1st, 2017Just in case anyone out there thinks that this is somehow not real, or not going to happen, ASUS moved to 100% automation for video card production back in 2015. Via: The Verge: Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturing giant behind Apple’s iPhone and numerous other major electronics devices, aims to automate away a vast majority of […]
The One About Amazon’s Floating Warehouses
December 29th, 2016My guess about this one is that it’s a joke—something like Elon Musk’s tunnel boring tweets. Assuming that it would be physically possible to float hundreds of tons of merchandise over a city (forget about the FAA for a moment), what would the economics of that look like? In any event, Jeff Bezos will probably […]
Tesla Autopilot Predicts Accident Caught on Dashcam a Second Later
December 27th, 2016Via: Electrek: In the video embedded below, we can hear the Tesla Autopilot’s Forward Collision Warning sending out an alert for seemingly no reason, but a fraction of a second later we understand why when the vehicle in front of the Tesla crashes into an SUV that wasn’t visible from the standpoint of the Tesla […]
Virtual Reality Allows the Most Detailed, Intimate Digital Surveillance Yet
December 26th, 2016Via: The Intercept: But as the tech industry continues to build VR’s social future, the very systems that enable immersive experiences are already establishing new forms of shockingly intimate surveillance. Once they are in place, researchers warn, the psychological aspects of digital embodiment — combined with the troves of data that consumer VR products can […]
World’s Largest Hedge Fund to Replace Managers with Artificial Intelligence
December 22nd, 2016Via: Guardian: The world’s largest hedge fund is building a piece of software to automate the day-to-day management of the firm, including hiring, firing and other strategic decision-making. Bridgewater Associates has a team of software engineers working on the project at the request of billionaire founder Ray Dalio, who wants to ensure the company can […]
It’s ‘Digital Heroin’: How Screens Turn Kids Into Psychotic Junkies
December 20th, 2016My sons, aged 9 and 6, get 30 minutes of video (that I’ve approved) per day and then 1.5 hours of gaming on Saturdays and Sundays, assuming all homeschool lessons are completed. As little screen time as this is, I’ve found that they have become obsessed with the stuff they encounter in the small windows […]
World Energy Hits a Turning Point: Solar That’s Cheaper Than Wind
December 16th, 2016Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: Bloomberg: Emerging markets are leapfrogging the developed world thanks to cheap panels. A transformation is happening in global energy markets that’s worth noting as 2016 comes to an end: Solar power, for the first time, is becoming the cheapest form of new electricity. This […]
