Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Elon Musk Needs a Very Big Factory for His New Solar Technology
June 19th, 2014Via: MIT Technology Review: Billionaire, Tesla founder, and private space entrepreneur Elon Musk announced yesterday that Solar City, the solar installation company where he is chairman, plans to acquire a startup called Silevo for $200 million (plus up to $150 million more if the company meets certain goals). And with typical bravado, he also said […]
It’s Complicated: Facebook’s History of Tracking You
June 18th, 2014Via: ProPublica: For years people have noticed a funny thing about Facebook’s ubiquitous Like button. It has been sending data to Facebook tracking the sites you visit. Each time details of the tracking were revealed, Facebook promised that it wasn’t using the data for any commercial purposes. No longer. Last week, Facebook announced it will […]
South Africa: Riot Control Drone Can Fire a Variety of Ammunition to Subdue Unruly Crowds
June 18th, 2014“Payload capacity of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is 40 kg” 40KG? Via: Defense Web: South African company Desert Wolf yesterday unveiled its Skunk riot control drone at the IFSEC security exhibition outside Johannesburg. Armed with four paintball guns, it can fire a variety of ammunition to subdue unruly crowds. The Skunk is designed to […]
UK Intelligence Forced to Reveal Secret Policy for Mass Surveillance
June 17th, 2014At least the wholly domestic traffic isn’t going down the gurgler too. *wink* Via: Privacy International: Britain’s top counter-terrorism official has been forced to reveal a secret Government policy justifying the mass surveillance of every Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Google user in the UK. This disturbing policy was made public due to a legal challenge […]
Australia: Concentrated Solar Facility Produces Supercritical Steam for First Time
June 16th, 2014Via: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation: A team of solar thermal engineers and scientists at our Energy Centre in Newcastle have used the ample sunlight flooding their solar fields to create what’s called ‘supercritical’ steam – an ultra-hot, ultra-pressurised steam that’s used to drive the world’s most advanced power plant turbines – at the […]
U.S. IT Workers Training H-1B Replacements
June 15th, 2014This has been going on since before I left the IT world behind back in 2005. I’m surprised that there are still IT jobs to outsource in any number. Maybe they go and comeback and go again… The feeble U.S. flag display in the cubicles was cringe inducing. Oh dear. Via: ComputerWorld: Training the replacement […]
U.S. Pushing Local Cops to Stay Mum on Surveillance
June 15th, 2014Via: AP: The Obama administration has been quietly advising local police not to disclose details about surveillance technology they are using to sweep up basic cellphone data from entire neighborhoods, The Associated Press has learned. Citing security reasons, the U.S. has intervened in routine state public records cases and criminal trials regarding use of the […]
The First Honest Cable Company
June 15th, 2014Via: YouTube Extremely Decent:
Why Online Tracking Is Getting Creepier
June 13th, 2014Via: Pro Publica: The marketers that follow you around the web are getting nosier. Currently, many companies track where users go on the Web—often through cookies—in order to display customized ads. That’s why if you look at a pair of shoes on one site, ads for those shoes may follow you around the Web. But […]
Tesla Allows Rivals to Use Its Intellectual Property to Develop Electric Vehicles
June 12th, 2014Via: Tesla Motors: Yesterday, there was a wall of Tesla patents in the lobby of our Palo Alto headquarters. That is no longer the case. They have been removed, in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology. Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport. […]
