Archive for the 'Technology' Category
MIT: Solar Has Best Potential for Meeting Humanity’s Energy Needs
May 6th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: Computerworld: A massive study on solar power by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) came to two main conclusions: Solar energy holds the best potential for meeting the planet’s long-term energy needs while reducing greenhouse gasses and federal and state governments must […]
France: More Surveillance
May 6th, 2015Via: BBC: The French parliament has approved a controversial law strengthening the intelligence services, with the aim of preventing Islamist attacks. The law on intelligence-gathering, adopted by 438 votes to 86, was drafted after three days of attacks in Paris in January, in which 17 people died. The Socialist government says the law is needed […]
First Road-Legal Big Rig That Can Drive Itself
May 6th, 2015Via: The Verge: Last night, atop the Hoover Dam, Freightliner unveiled the Inspiration Truck — a partially autonomous big rig that could save lives, mitigate driver fatigue and stress, and reduce CO2 emissions up to 5 percent. Daimler, which owns Freightliner, says it has done more than 10,000 miles of testing on the truck. And […]
Cops No Longer Need a Warrant When Seeking Cellphone Records from Wireless Carriers
May 6th, 2015Via: Vice: Cops no longer need a warrant when seeking cellphone records from wireless carriers in the US a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday—reversing its own decision from last year. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that citizens have no expectation of privacy when it comes to records held […]
New GPS Technology Identifies Locations within Centimeters
May 5th, 2015Via: Independent: New GPS technology that can identify locations accurate to within centimetres could open the way for huge advances in virtual reality and mobile mapping, scientists believe. Researchers at the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas said the centimetre-accurate GPS-based positioning system could allow unmanned aerial vehicles to deliver packages to […]
NSA Speech to Text Systems Makes Conversations Searchable
May 5th, 2015Via: FirstLook: Most people realize that emails and other digital communications they once considered private can now become part of their permanent record. But even as they increasingly use apps that understand what they say, most people don’t realize that the words they speak are not so private anymore, either. Top-secret documents from the archive […]
The Age of Drone Vandalism Begins
May 1st, 2015Via: Wired: In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the age of robotic graffiti was born. KATSU, a well-known graffiti artist and vandal, used a hacked Phantom drone to paint a giant red scribble across Kendall Jenner’s face on one of New York City’s largest and most viewed billboards. By all accounts, it is the […]
Whatever Tesla Announces Today… Wait
April 30th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in NZ. — Tesla Powerwall Press Kit Leaks Before Presentation The Powerwall Home Battery increases the capacity for a household’s solar consumption, while also offering backup functionality during grid outages. The Powerwall is available in 10kWh, optimized for backup applications or 7kWh optimized for daily use applications. Both can […]
Scientists Achieve Critical Steps to Building First Practical Quantum Computer
April 29th, 2015Via: PhysOrg: IBM scientists today unveiled two critical advances towards the realization of a practical quantum computer. For the first time, they showed the ability to detect and measure both kinds of quantum errors simultaneously, as well as demonstrated a new, square quantum bit circuit design that is the only physical architecture that could successfully […]
Like Shale Oil, Solar Power Is Shaking Up Global Energy
April 27th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in NZ. — Unlike shale oil, however, solar power isn’t an unmitigated environmental disaster. Via: Reuters: One by one, Japan is turning off the lights at the giant oil-fired power plants that propelled it to the ranks of the world’s top industrialized nations. With nuclear power in the doldrums […]
