Archive for the 'Technology' Category
New Memories Implanted in Mice While They Sleep
March 10th, 2015Via: New Scientist: Benchenane’s team used electrodes to monitor the activity of mice’s place cells as the animals explored an enclosed arena, and in each mouse they identified a cell that fired only in a certain arena location. Later, when the mice were sleeping, the researchers monitored the animals’ brain activity as they replayed the […]
New Zealand Prime Minister Retracts Vow To Resign if Mass Surveillance Is Shown
March 10th, 2015Shocker. Via: First Look: So now that it’s proven that New Zealand does exactly that which Prime Minister Key vowed would cause him to resign if it were proven, is he preparing his resignation speech? No: that’s something a political official with a minimal amount of integrity would do. Instead – even as he now […]
Driverless Car Trials in 30 U.S. Cities by End of 2016
March 9th, 2015Via: Observer: Automated vehicle pilot projects will roll out in the U.K. and in six to 10 U.S. cities this year, with the first unveiling projected to be in Tampa, Fla. as soon as late spring. The following year, trial programs will launch in 12 to 20 more U.S. locations, which means driverless cars will […]
New Zealand: Meridian Energy CEO – Solar Power Users Hurt Poor People
March 6th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Although grid-tie solar power users pay daily site and network charges like everyone else, because we’re drawing less power from the grid, we should have to pay more, according to Meridian CEO Mark Binns, “For fairness.” I don’t know if Mark Binns is an idiot […]
Newly Released Snowden Documents Related to New Zealand
March 4th, 2015We know more of the operational names and technical details than in past years, but Hager let the world know this was happening back in 1996: Secret Power. Via: New Zealand Herald: New Zealand is “selling out” its close relations with the Pacific nations to be close with the United States, author Nicky Hager has […]
‘FREAK’ Flaw Undermined Security for Apple and Google Users for Over a Decade
March 3rd, 2015Via: Washington Post: Technology companies are scrambling to fix a major security flaw that for more than a decade left users of Apple and Google devices vulnerable to hacking when they visited millions of supposedly secure Web sites, including Whitehouse.gov, NSA.gov and FBI.gov. The flaw resulted from a former U.S. government policy that forbade the […]
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 […]
