Archive for the 'Technology' Category
$1400 Device Can Cause LTE Mobile Phones to Use Compromised 2G Networks
March 13th, 2016Via: Bloomberg: Phones now operate on more sophisticated 3G and 4G (also known as LTE) networks. In theory, IMSI catchers can pinpoint only the location of these phones, not listen to calls or read texts. But none of that matters if the IMSI catcher in question can just knock a phone call back down to […]
The Secrets of Surveillance Capitalism
March 12th, 2016Via: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: Governmental control is nothing compared to what Google is up to. The company is creating a wholly new genus of capitalism, a systemic coherent new logic of accumulation we should call surveillance capitalism. … “Most Americans realize that there are two groups of people who are monitored regularly as they move […]
Tesla Hires Former LEGO Executive, Expert in Fully Automated Manufacturing Methods
March 9th, 2016Via: electrek: An interesting fact about lego bricks: the first hands to touch a Lego brick are the hands of a customer since the entire manufacturing process is automated. Granted, plastic blocks are significantly less complicated than li-ion battery cells, but since Tesla hired a long-time Lego manufacturing executive to lead the Gigafactory effort, it […]
Google AI Beats World’s Best Human Go Player
March 9th, 2016Update: Google AI Up Wins Second Match — Via: Independent: A computer programme has won a game of Go against the world’s best player, in a huge breakthrough for artificial intelligence. Google’s AlphaGo computer has beaten South Korean human and Go champion Lee Sedol in the first of five matches. The Deepmind-based computer’s victory in […]
The Crime You Have Not Yet Committed
March 8th, 2016Precrime (today usually spelled “pre-crime”) is a term coined by science fiction author Philip K. Dick. It is increasingly used in academic literature to describe and criticise the tendency in criminal justice systems to focus on crimes not yet committed. Pre-crime has been defined as ‘substantive coercive state interventions targeted at non-imminent crimes’. Pre-crime intervenes […]
Navy Secretly Conducting Electromagnetic Warfare Training on Washington Roads
March 8th, 2016Via: TruthOut: Without public notification of any kind, the US Navy has secretly been conducting electromagnetic warfare testing and training on public roads in western Washington State for more than five years. An email thread between the Navy and the US Forest Service between 2010 and 2012, recently obtained via a Freedom of Information Act […]
U.S. Military Spending Millions on Cyborg Implant
March 8th, 2016“A spokesman for DARPA told CNN that the program is not intended for military applications.” Oh sure. It’s to help the injured vets, save kittens and make rainbows etc. I like the comments from the cognitive scientist interviewed for the piece. “Boondoggle.” “My guess is that it’s a waste of taxpayer dollars.” And flush go […]
BMW Sees Its Future Shift to Ultimate Self-Driving Machine
March 7th, 2016Via: Bloomberg: BMW AG, which became the world’s largest maker of luxury cars by focusing on Autobahn thrills, is shifting gears to automated driving as urbanization and changing attitudes toward cars redefine transportation.
No, Turning On Your Phone Is Not Consenting to Being Tracked by Police
March 6th, 2016Via: The Intercept: The Maryland Court of Special Appeals on Wednesday upheld a historic decision by a state trial court that the warrantless use of cell-site simulators, or Stingrays, violates the Fourth Amendment. The trial court had suppressed evidence obtained by the warrantless use of a Stingray — the first time any court in the […]
MIT’s New 5-Atom Quantum Computer Could Make Today’s Encryption Obsolete
March 6th, 2016“all you have to do is go in the lab, apply more technology, and you should be able to make a bigger quantum computer” So the only thing preventing a more general purpose quantum computer is money and enough engineers… Hmm… Via: PC World: Much of the encryption world today depends on the challenge of […]
