Archive for the 'Technology' Category
The New NSA-Funded Code Rolls All Programming Languages Into One
August 11th, 2014Ah yes, NSA as computer security philanthropist… Via: Vice: Hey, web developer dudes and dudettes: What’s your favorite programming language? Is it CSS? Is it JavaScript? Is it PHP, HTML5, or something else? Why choose? A new programming language developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University is all of those and more—one of the world’s […]
Robots Will Create ‘Permanently Unemployable Underclass’
August 9th, 2014Via: International Business Times: The advancement of robots that can do our jobs for us will create a class-divide not seen since the 19th century, a report by the Pew Research Centre in America has found. As machines have continued to displace factory workers, personal assistants and receptionists over the last decade, advanced countries must […]
Gamma FinFisher Hacked: 40 GB of Internal Documents and Source Code of Government Malware Published
August 6th, 2014Via: Netzpolitik (Google Cache Version): A hacker claims to have hacked a network of the surveillance technology company Gamma International and has published 40 gigabytes of internal data. A Twitter account has published release notes, price lists – and source code. Malware researchers and human rights activists welcome the publication, Gamma itself refuses to comment. […]
Why Robots Are Getting Cuter
August 6th, 2014Via: The Verge: The tendency of people to treat minimally anthropomorphic bots as humans worries some people. We are, in a sense, falling prey to a powerful illusion. The expressions and gestures are shorthand for internal states you imagine, instinctively, are like yours, but really are only code. If a thing seems alive, if it […]
The NSA Is Being Sued for Keeping Keith Alexander’s Financial Records Secret
August 5th, 2014Via: Vice: Former NSA Director Keith Alexander’s lucrative entrance into the private sector has raised a heap of ethical questions about the spy chief’s intentions. Now the NSA has yet another dilemma on its hands: Investigative journalist Jason Leopold is suing the agency for denying him the release of financial disclosure statements attributable to its […]
Russian Gang Amasses Over a Billion Internet Passwords
August 5th, 2014Via: New York Times: A Russian crime ring has amassed the largest known collection of stolen Internet credentials, including 1.2 billion user name and password combinations and more than 500 million email addresses, security researchers say. The records, discovered by Hold Security, a firm in Milwaukee, include confidential material gathered from 420,000 websites, including household […]
Extracting Audio from Visual Information
August 4th, 2014Via: MIT Technology Review: Researchers at MIT, Microsoft, and Adobe have developed an algorithm that can reconstruct an audio signal by analyzing minute vibrations of objects depicted in video. In one set of experiments, they were able to recover intelligible speech from the vibrations of a potato-chip bag photographed from 15 feet away through soundproof […]
Elon Musk: AI “Potentially More Dangerous Than Nukes”
August 4th, 2014Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom Via: ExtremeTech: Elon Musk, the mastermind behind SpaceX and Tesla, believes that artificial intelligence is “potentially more dangerous than nukes,” imploring all of humankind “to be super careful with AI,” unless we want the ultimate fate of humanity to closely resemble Judgment Day from Terminator. Personally I think […]
NASA Validates ‘Impossible’ Space Drive
August 3rd, 2014Via: Wired: Nasa is a major player in space science, so when a team from the agency this week presents evidence that “impossible” microwave thrusters seem to work, something strange is definitely going on. Either the results are completely wrong, or Nasa has confirmed a major breakthrough in space propulsion. British scientist Roger Shawyer has […]
NSA Spy Tools Were Set for NZ Installation
August 1st, 2014NSA wouldn’t need to tap the cables since the agency is already inside the boxes in the U.S., New Zealand and Aussie landing sites. What do you think Snowden was supposed to be doing at his NSA job in Hawaii? Working on his tan? Look at where the Southern Cross cables go. So let’s cut […]
