Archive for the 'Technology' Category
FAA Bans Use of Drones to Deliver Packages
June 24th, 2014Via: Ars Technica: The Federal Aviation Administration has said that online shopping powerhouse Amazon may not employ drones to deliver packages, at least not anytime soon. … In Monday’s announcement, published in the Federal Register, the FAA named Amazon’s December proposal as an example of what is barred under regulations that allow the use of […]
New Zealand: Peria School’s New Solar Power System
June 24th, 2014Update: The Story Was Finally Broadcast on Television Show Seven Sharp This finally aired on a show called Seven Sharp on 27 June 2014. Fast forward to about the 15 minute mark. — Here’s a little slice of life from rural Northland New Zealand, for anyone who’s interested. Yesterday, I went along to Peria School […]
New Handheld X-Ray Scanner
June 23rd, 2014Via: DefenseOne: Superman had X-ray vision. Now, so does the United States military, in the form of an X-ray gun that can see through fabric, rubber and aluminum to find drugs, money, explosive liquids and even people. The recently released X-ray gun is the first device of its kind that a soldier or would-be superhero […]
5KW Grid-Tie Solar Power System
June 23rd, 2014Update and Correction, 30 June 2014 The Q-Cells and SMA special mentioned in this post is now over. All of those systems have sold out. Also, Solar King operates in the North Island and the top of the South Island (Nelson). — We pay NZ$47.7 cents (including GST) per kilowatt hour for electricity. That’s robbery. […]
New Leaks Show Germany’s Collusion with NSA
June 22nd, 2014Via: Deutsche Welle: This week German news magazine Der Spiegel published the largest single set of files leaked by whistleblower and former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. The roughly 50 documents show the depth of the German intelligence agencies’ collusion with the NSA. They suggest that the German Intelligence Agency (BND), the country’s […]
Elon Musk on Artificial Intelligence: “I Think There Is Potentially a Dangerous Outcome There”
June 20th, 2014Via: Guardian: Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk worries about a “Terminator” scenario arising from research into artificial intelligence. Musk was an early investor in AI firm DeepMind, which was later acquired by Google, and in March made an investment San Francisco-based Vicarious, another company working to improve machine intelligence. Speaking to US news channel CNBC, […]
Florida: Cops Hid Use of Phone Tracking Tech in Court Documents at Feds’ Request
June 20th, 2014Via: Ars Technica: On Thursday evening, the ACLU published a 2009 e-mail exchange (PDF) between police departments in Sarasota, FL and North Port, FL indicating that local law enforcement had concealed the use of cell phone-tracking Stingray devices in court documents. Stingray is a trademark, but it has come to generally mean devices that can […]
D-Wave’s “Quantum Computer” Isn’t Any Faster Than a Normal PC
June 19th, 2014There have been skeptics on this thing from the start. They were right. Via: Christian Science Monitor: A team of researchers compared the performance of a D-Wave Two device to that of a classical computer on a specific set of problems, and failed to find evidence that the quantum computer was faster. “We do not […]
“Got Fiber?” Countries Outside of Five Eyes Network Working with NSA
June 19th, 2014Via: First Look: Huge volumes of private emails, phone calls, and internet chats are being intercepted by the National Security Agency with the secret cooperation of more foreign governments than previously known, according to newly disclosed documents from whistleblower Edward Snowden. The classified files, revealed today by the Danish newspaper Dagbladet Information in a reporting […]
Harley-Davidson Refining Electric Motorcycle Design
June 19th, 2014Via: AP: Harley-Davidson will unveil its first electric motorcycle next week, and President Matt Levatich said he expects the company known for its big touring bikes and iconic brand to become a leader in developing technology and standards for electric vehicles. Harley will show handmade demonstration models Monday at an invitation-only event in New York. […]
