Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Senior Abbott MP Concedes Australians Ready to Leave the Grid
January 31st, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in NZ. Via: RenewEconomy: A senior member of Australia’s ruling Coalition has conceded that Australian consumers are ready to leave the grid, and rely instead on solar and storage, and suggested that state-owned assets such as electricity networks need to be sold quickly before they lose too much value. […]
Office Puts Chips Under Staff’s Skin
January 30th, 2015Via: BBC: Want to gain entry to your office, get on a bus, or perhaps buy a sandwich? We’re all getting used to swiping a card to do all these things. But at Epicenter, a new hi-tech office block in Sweden, they are trying a different approach – a chip under the skin. Felicio de […]
AI Will Not Kill Us, Says Microsoft Research Chief
January 28th, 2015Via: BBC: Microsoft Research’s chief has said he thinks artificial intelligence systems could achieve consciousness, but has played down the threat to human life. Eric Horvitz’s position contrasts with that of several other leading thinkers. Last December, Prof Stephen Hawking told the BBC that such machines could “spell the end of the human race”. Mr […]
‘Super-Secure’ BlackPhone
January 28th, 2015Your what hurts? Via: Register: The maker of BlackPhone – a mobile marketed as offering unusually high levels of security – has patched a critical vulnerability that allows hackers to run malicious code on the handsets. Attackers need little more than a phone number to send a message that can compromise the devices via the […]
Experts Unmask ‘Regin’ Trojan as NSA Tool
January 27th, 2015Via: Spiegel: Just weeks ago, SPIEGEL published the source code of an NSA malware program known internally as QWERTY. Now, experts have found that it is none other than the notorious trojan Regin, used in dozens of cyber attacks around the world.
How the CIA Made Google
January 27th, 2015This is a really good one. Via: Medium: Google styles itself as a friendly, funky, user-friendly tech firm that rose to prominence through a combination of skill, luck, and genuine innovation. This is true. But it is a mere fragment of the story. In reality, Google is a smokescreen behind which lurks the US military-industrial […]
DEA Runs Massive Surveillance Operation to Record Movement of Americans with License Plate Readers
January 27th, 2015Via: ACLU: The Drug Enforcement Administration has initiated a massive national license plate reader program with major civil liberties concerns but disclosed very few details, according to new DEA documents obtained by the ACLU through the Freedom of Information Act. The DEA is currently operating a National License Plate Recognition initiative that connects DEA license […]
Snowden: iPhone Includes Surveillance App
January 24th, 2015Shocker. Via: Sputnik News: Former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden never uses an iPhone as this device has software able to collect personal information regarding its owner, the whistleblower’s lawyer said Monday. “Edward never uses an IPhone, he’s got a simple phone… The iPhone has special software that can activate itself without […]
Scientists Attempt to Create Kill Switch for Genetically Modified Bacteria
January 24th, 2015Pay close attention to the use of unlikely and undetectably small escape rate in the piece below. Wow. Of all the places to encounter weaseleze… I think seeing it in the one about the GMO kill switch has to take the cake. Via: Discovery: As genetically-modified microbes take on ever more tasks – from creating […]
Google and Fidelity Invest $1 Billion in SpaceX
January 20th, 2015Via: cnet: Google is cementing its interest in outer space. The company, along with investment firm Fidelity, is pumping $1 billion into SpaceX, the rocket company co-founded by billionaire Elon Musk. The deal, confirmed on Tuesday by SpaceX, is just the latest bet Google has made on space technologies. The company has recently made investments […]
