Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Crime-Fighting Robots Go On Patrol In Silicon Valley
November 19th, 2014Get your barf bag ready. Via: CBS: A new kind of security guard is on patrol in Silicon Valley: crime-fighting robots that look like they’re straight out of a sci-fi movie. At first glance, the K5 security robot looks like a cartoonish Star Wars character. “The vast majority of people see it and go, ‘Oh […]
Bill Gates Looks at LENRs as Future Energy Source
November 19th, 2014Via: New Energy Times: Bill Gates, pioneer in the digital world, is exploring low-energy nuclear reactions (LENRs), the frontier of energy research. On Wednesday, he visited a small laboratory on the sprawling campus of a government lab in Frascati, just outside of Rome, Italy. The lab is one of several large ones under the Italian […]
U.S. Navy Deploys Its First Laser Weapon in the Persian Gulf
November 14th, 2014Via: Bloomberg: The U.S. Navy has deployed on a command ship in the Persian Gulf its first laser weapon capable of destroying a target. The amphibious transport ship USS Ponce has been patrolling with a prototype 30-kilowatt-class Laser Weapon System since late August, according to officials. The laser is mounted facing the bow, and can […]
Dragnet Surveilance: Americans’ Cellphones Targeted in Secret Spy Program, Fake Cell Towers Attached to Aircraft
November 13th, 2014There was a lot of coverage about fake cell towers several weeks ago. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that because all of the coverage seemed to point at an attempt by an alleged “secure” smartphone company to drum up sales. I didn’t want to give that company any additional advertising, because I […]
Amazon to Begin Testing Same-Day Delivery Drones in Cambridge
November 13th, 2014Via: Guardian: Amazon is planning to test drones in Cambridge, England, as the battle to offer consumers same-day deliveries heats up. The US company announced with considerable fanfare late last year that it was considering using drones as a way of dramatically reducing the time it takes to deliver orders to customers. At the time […]
Son of Stuxnet
November 13th, 2014Via: Firstlook: As he drove to work, he tried to wrap his mind around what he’d just seen, and couldn’t believe the Stuxnet gang was still active. After all the media attention and finger-pointing at Israel and the United States, he thought for sure the attackers would have laid low for a while to let […]
“An Autonomous Weapons Arms Race” Is Underway
November 11th, 2014Via: New York Times: On a bright fall day last year off the coast of Southern California, an Air Force B-1 bomber launched an experimental missile that may herald the future of warfare. Initially, pilots aboard the plane directed the missile, but halfway to its destination it severed communication with its operators. Alone, without human […]
SpaceX Working on Micro-Satellites for Internet Access
November 11th, 2014Via: PCWorld: SpaceX is working on a network of micro-satellites that will be used to provide Internet access, according to the company’s founder and CEO Elon Musk. “SpaceX is still in the early stages of developing advanced micro-satellites operating in large formations,” Musk wrote in a message on Twitter on Monday. “Announcement in 2 to […]
Malls Fill Vacant Stores With Server Rooms
November 3rd, 2014Via: Wall Street Journal: The Internet is moving to a shopping center near you. In Fort Wayne, Ind., a vacated Target store is about to be home to rows of computer servers, network routers and Ethernet cables courtesy of a local data-center operator. In Jackson, Miss., a former McRae’s department store will get the same […]
Flesh-and-Blood Advisers Face Threats from Robots
November 3rd, 2014Via: Reuters: Fidelity and Charles Schwab will be offering automated financial advice that’s low-cost or even free, pushing other advisers to be tech-savvy to compete. Last month, both Charles Schwab Corp and Fidelity Investments unveiled so-called “robo” advice programs that offer free or very cheap algorithm-driven portfolio management to investors. More Teen With Terminal Cancer […]
