Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Enphase Promotes STEM Careers for Women
March 2nd, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems that include Enphase products in New Zealand. This is far off topic, but I thought I’d share this for people with young daughters, or for any young women who happen to be reading. The media is saturated with stories about women leaving tech jobs because of entrenched nonsense. Let’s […]
Are Your Devices Hardwired For Betrayal?
March 2nd, 2015Via: EFF: How Do We Fix It? Hardware manufacturers must take steps to address this problem before more firmware disasters comes to pass. In the past, hardware manufacturers have been more worried about physical and side-channel attacks. Manufacturers therefore focused mainly on making their hardware and firmware opaque and tamper-proof in hopes that, if no […]
Hacksaw + Fiber: “Vandalism” in Arizona Shut Down Internet, Cellphone, Telephone Service Across State
February 28th, 2015Via: Washington Free Beacon: Cellphone, Internet, and telephone services across half of Arizona went dark on Wednesday after vandals sliced a sensitive fiber optic cable, according to those familiar with the situation. The incident is raising concerns about the safety of U.S. infrastructure. The outage shut down critical services across large parts of the state, […]
Is Playing ‘Space Invaders’ a Milestone in Artificial Intelligence?
February 26th, 2015Via: Los Angeles Times: Computers have beaten humans at chess and “Jeopardy!,” and now they can master old Atari games such as “Space Invaders” or “Breakout” without knowing anything about their rules or strategies. Playing Atari 2600 games from the 1980s may seem a bit “Back to the Future,” but researchers with Google’s DeepMind project […]
Austria: Bionic Reconstruction Gives Men First Prosthetic Hands Controlled by Mind
February 26th, 2015Via: Guardian: Three Austrians have had their injured hands replaced with bionic ones that they can control using nerves and muscles transplanted into their arms from their legs. The three men are the first to undergo what doctors refer to as “bionic reconstruction”, which involves a voluntary amputation, the transplantof nerves and muscles and learning […]
Unauthorized Drone Activity Over Paris
February 25th, 2015Via: BBC: Drones have appeared over landmarks in central Paris for the second night running and police are no closer to knowing who is operating them. There were five sightings between 23:00 on Tuesday and 02:00 (01:00 GMT) on Wednesday, French media report. Up to three drones were seen near the Invalides military museum, Place […]
Komodia’s Founder, “Was Once a Programmer in Israel’s IDF’s Intelligence Core”
February 24th, 2015It’s for the children. Via: Forbes: In a brief email conversation with Barak Weichselbaum, Komodia’s founder who was once a programmer in Israel’s IDF’s Intelligence Core, he said the company was not hiding behind DDoS claims and that the attack was real. … Why is Komodia now getting so much attention anyway? Because its hugely […]
Plea Deals Rather Than Talking About StingRay
February 23rd, 2015Via: Washington Post: McKenzie’s case is emblematic of the growing, but hidden, use by local law enforcement of a sophisticated surveillance technology borrowed from the national security world. It shows how a gag order imposed by the FBI — on grounds that discussing the device’s operation would compromise its effectiveness — has left judges, the […]
Why Does Apple Include Government Certificate Authorities on the Mac?
February 23rd, 2015Via: Zit Seng’s Blog: The Certificate Authorities are usually trustworthy. Usually. Except, when you look into the list Certificate Authorities trusted by the Mac. There are the usual big name Certificate Authorities like Verisign, GeoTrust, Symantec and Thawte. But how about these ones: Subject: C=US, O=U.S. Government, OU=FPKI, CN=Federal Common Policy CA Subject: C=US, O=U.S. […]
“Think of it as the food manufacturers’ equivalent of an arms fair”
February 22nd, 2015Via: Guardian: On a bright, cold day in late November 2013, I found myself in the dark, eerie, indoor expanses of Frankfurt’s Blade Runner-like Festhalle Messe. I was there undercover, to attend an annual trade show called Food Ingredients. This three-day exhibition hosts the world’s most important gathering of ingredients suppliers, distributors and buyers. In […]
