Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Eyes Down, Minds Elsewhere, ‘Deadwalkers’ Are Among Us
September 28th, 2015Via: Washington Post: You have seen the zombie-like creatures walking among us. In fact, you may be one of them, moseying along with your eyes fixated on that tiny screen that rests in the palm of your hand. … “Some data suggests that at any given moment on the streets of America, 60 percent of […]
DARPA: Soldier Brain Implants to Improve Artificial Intelligence [???]
September 28th, 2015Via: Fusion: For decades, DARPA, the secretive research arm of the Department of Defense, has dreamed of turning soldiers into cyborgs. And now it’s finally happening. The agency has funded projects that involve implanting chips into soldiers’ brains that they hope will enhance performance on the battlefield and repair traumatized brains once the fog of […]
New Zealand: Fair Go for Solar Initiative
September 27th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — For people in New Zealand: Please consider getting the word out about the Fair Go for Solar Initiative by the Greens.
GCHQ Mass Surveillance: KARMA POLICE
September 26th, 2015Via: The Intercept: THERE WAS A SIMPLE AIM at the heart of the top-secret program: Record the website browsing habits of “every visible user on the Internet.” Before long, billions of digital records about ordinary people’s online activities were being stored every day. Among them were details cataloging visits to porn, social media and news […]
General Atomics Wants to Install 150-Kilowatt Laser Onto its Avenger UAV
September 23rd, 2015Via: DefenseOne: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., or GA-ASI, the San Diego-based company that makes the Predator and Reaper drones, is undertaking a privately funded study to integrate a 150-kilowatt solid-state laser onto its Avenger (née Predator-C) drone. If the company gets its way, a drone with a high-energy laser will be a reality at […]
DHS Wants Boeing to Test a Brain Chip in Firm’s Self-Destructing ‘Black’ Spyphone
September 23rd, 2015Via: NextGov: The Department of Homeland Security is funding a Boeing company to create a “brain chip” for its self-destructing Black smartphone that could be adapted for any device, DHS officials say. The technology powering the devices potentially could identify the user’s walking style, for example. Officials would be alerted if the gait does not […]
Homeless Tech Bus Drivers Live in Cars
September 21st, 2015Via: NBC: Drivers of Silicon Valley’s tech bus shuttles might not earn enough pay to have a stable place to live in the Bay Area. San Francisco Chronicle reported that two Apple shuttle bus drivers live in their own vehicles, though one would only speak anonymously. “Living in a car is hard,” Scott Peebles, 53, […]
Apple’s Electric Car: 2019
September 21st, 2015Via: Wall Street Journal: Apple Inc. is accelerating efforts to build an electric car, designating it internally as a “committed project” and setting a target ship date for 2019, according to people familiar with the matter. The go-ahead came after the company spent more than a year investigating the feasibility of an Apple-branded car, including […]
Real Headline: “Marines Test Google’s Latest Military Robot”
September 21st, 2015Via: PC World: The latest version of a walking, quadruped battlefield robot from Boston Dynamics, the military robotics maker owned by Google X, was tested by U.S. Marines last week. Spot weighs about 70kgs, is electrically operated and walks on four hydraulically-actuated legs. It’s controlled via wireless by an operator who can be up to […]
Artificial Leaf Harnesses Sunlight for Efficient Fuel Production
September 20th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — I like reading the artificial leaf news, even though there are always tall hurdles ahead of the technology becoming practical. In this iteration of the artificial leaf, for example, the system only works for about 40 hours. I wondered how much money was being spent […]
