Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Humans Need Not Apply
August 14th, 2014Via: CGP Grey: Research Credit: P7y845W4
Facebook to Track Users Across Devices to Study Shopping Habits
August 14th, 2014In other news, resolution of Google satellite imagery could soon double. Via: Bloomberg: Facebook Inc. (FB) will let advertisers know where a promotion was first viewed and when it led to a purchase by tracking users between their electronic devices, a tool that may reignite privacy concerns. Marketers will be able to see the number […]
Could Hemp Nanosheets Topple Graphene for Making the Ideal Supercapacitor?
August 13th, 2014Via: American Chemical Society: As hemp makes a comeback in the U.S. after a decades-long ban on its cultivation, scientists are reporting that fibers from the plant can pack as much energy and power as graphene, long-touted as the model material for supercapacitors. They’re presenting their research, which a Canadian start-up company is working on […]
MonsterMind: NSA’s Cyberwar Bot
August 13th, 2014Via: Wired: Edward Snowden has made us painfully aware of the government’s sweeping surveillance programs over the last year. But a new program, currently being developed at the NSA, suggests that surveillance may fuel the government’s cyber defense capabilities, too. The NSA whistleblower says the agency is developing a cyber defense system that would instantly […]
Starwood Hotels Trials Robots That Make Deliveries to Guests
August 12th, 2014Via: CNBC: Look out Rosie the Robot, Starwood Hotels’ Aloft brand has a taskmaster of its own. His (or her?) name; A.L.O. pronounced “el-oh”, the hotels’ first Botlr (short of robotic butler.) Standing just under 3 feet tall, A.L.O. comes dressed in a vinyl-collared butler uniform and will soon be on call all day and […]
“Ample Evidence” Silicon Valley Firms Engaged in “An Overarching Conspiracy” Against Their Own Employees
August 11th, 2014Via: New York Times: There is “ample evidence” that Silicon Valley was engaged in “an overarching conspiracy” against its own employees, a federal judge said on Friday, and it should either pay dearly or have its secrets exposed at trial. Judge Lucy H. Koh of the United States District Court in San Jose rejected as […]
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 […]
