Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Stanford Quantifies the Privacy-Stripping Power of Metadata
May 17th, 2016Via: Tech Crunch: More proof, if proof were needed, of the privacy-stripping power of metadata. A multi-year crowdsourced study, conducted by Stanford scientists and published this week, underlines how much information can be inferred from basic phone logs cross-referenced with other public datasets. (Reminder: the former director of the NSA and the CIA, General Michael […]
Battelle Fielding 100 Drone Zappers to Pentagon, Homeland Security
May 17th, 2016Via: Defense Tech: The military has turned to a directed energy frequency jammer mounted on an assault rifle-type frame to deal with the growing threat of small drones to military bases and troops in the field. Officials of Battelle, the non-profit research and development organization based in Columbus, Ohio, said Monday the Defense Department and […]
Pentagon Wants AI to Read Social Media and Draw Up Lists of People for Lethal Autonomous Robots to Kill
May 16th, 2016Via: Medium: “LARs [lethal autonomous robots] have the unique potential to operate at a tempo faster than humans can possibly achieve and to lethally strike even when communications links have been severed. Autonomous targeting technology will likely proliferate to nations and groups around the world. To prevent being surpassed by rivals, the United States should […]
UK Developing Digital Driving Licence
May 16th, 2016Via: BBC: The UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is working on a smartphone version of its driving licence. Chief executive Oliver Morley tweeted a photo showing a “prototype” using Apple’s Wallet app on an iPhone. He says it will be an “add-on” to the plastic card rather than a replacement. Research Credit: Jb
BAY AREA: FBI MICROPHONES RECORD PUBLIC CONVERSATIONS
May 14th, 2016Keep in mind, this is just what’s admitted. Via: East Bay Express: At the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland, the FBI planted hidden microphones inside light fixtures on the courthouse’s exterior steps to capture the conversations of people attending the foreclosure auctions. Cameras and microphones were installed in parked Alameda County vehicles next to […]
Wendy’s Installing Self-Service Ordering Kiosks in 6,000-Plus Restaurants
May 13th, 20162014: Notice how companies in Seattle have between three and seven years to start paying the $15/hour rate? *wink* And now… Via: IBD: Wendy’s (WEN) said that self-service ordering kiosks will be made available across its 6,000-plus restaurants in the second half of the year as minimum wage hikes and a tight labor market push […]
Hyperloop One: Open Air Prototype Tested in Nevada
May 11th, 2016I’ve found that Americans, in general, only have a vague concept of what a bullet train is. They know that it’s theoretically possible to travel around the Homeland on the ancient and lumbering Amtrak system, if they want to pay a lot and go slow, but that’s about it. Nothing worth seeing in other countries, […]
Volvo’s Self-Driving Program Will Have Redundancy For Everything
May 11th, 2016Via: IEEE: Next year Volvo will do something no other company has tried: it will put 100 fully self-driving cars in the hands of customers. The tests, which will begin small and ramp up slowly, are to be held in Gothenberg, Sweden and in London. It’s a lot harder than it may seem. True, the […]
Nimble-Fingered Robot Outperforms the Best Human Surgeons
May 10th, 2016Via: MIT Technology Review: A robot surgeon has been taught to perform a delicate procedure—stitching soft tissue together with a needle and thread—more precisely and reliably than even the best human doctor. The Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR), developed by researchers at Children’s National Health System in Washington, D.C., uses an advanced 3-D imaging system […]
The Coming Wide-Spread Use of Drones in Agriculture
May 10th, 2016Via: Hackaday: Let’s cover what drones can offer and what growers can use, then dig into what is out there and happening over some fields right now. These Things are Important to Farmers, but are Limited or Troublesome Confirmation: Verifying that plants are growing where and when they should, and checking this as early and […]
