Archive for the 'Technology' Category
#myNYPD Twitter Campaign Backfires, Promotes Photos of Police Brutality Instead of Positive Encounters with Public
April 23rd, 2014Via: New York Daily News: An exercise in social media outreach turned #epicfail Tuesday when users flooded the Twittersphere with some of the NYPD’s most infamous moments of brutality. The NYPD, through its Twitter page, innocuously asked people on to post pictures of themselves interacting with New York’s Finest — complete with the hashtag myNYPD. […]
The Pittsburgh Startup That Has Big Plans for Batteries
April 22nd, 2014Via: Guardian: From cell phones to laptops to electric cars, the world is becoming increasingly dependent on batteries. Unfortunately, this convenience comes at a cost: some common battery materials are toxic and require special treatment after their end of life. A new company is hoping to combat this cycle: It has begun using more benign […]
Introducing AISight: CCTV Network Completely Run by AI
April 22nd, 2014Via: ITProPortal: BRS Labs’ AISight is different because it doesn’t rely on a human programmer to tell it what behaviour is suspicious. It learns that all by itself. The system enables a machine to monitor is environment, and build up a detailed profile of what can be considered “normal” behaviour. The AI can then determine […]
Pentagon’s Superpowered Autopilot Will Do the Work of 5 Crew Members
April 22nd, 2014Via: Wired: Some think that the Defense Department couldn’t possibly reduce its forces as much as it claims it will. After all, who would fly the planes? Now DARPA has an answer. The Pentagon’s research arm is developing a sophisticated, drop-in autopilot that can replace as many as five crew members of a military aircraft, […]
Man Prefers $50 3D Printed Prosthetic Hand to One That Cost $42,000
April 21st, 2014Via: 3dprint.com: After some time had passed, Simon decided to meet up with Delgado once more, this time to work on the setup of the tendons within the Beast. To his amazement, Delgado had told him that the 3D printed hand has been functioning better than the myoelectric device, and he had preferred it to […]
How Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs Are Rushing to Cash in on Cannabis
April 18th, 2014Via: Wired: After Charlotte began taking an extract from the brothers’ strain in 2012, her seizures dropped from 300 a week to three or four a month. It was a revelation. The Stanleys named the strain Charlotte’s Web in her honor. As word of the drug’s antiseizure effect began to spread, families from across the […]
Clearer Images of Classified Aircraft Over Wichita
April 18th, 2014Via: KSN: Jeff Templin is a amateur photographer. He says he’s seen it all until now. While taking pictures of wildlife back in February, something caught his eye. He said it looked like an unusual contrail. “Right over the city, clear as a bell,” said Templin. “Anyone that was looking up would have seen it. […]
The New Cop on the Beat May Be a Bot
April 18th, 2014Via: Time: A Silicon Valley company called Knightscope is currently testing a prototype robot designed to detect and monitor criminal activity, much the way a police officer or a security guard would. The Knightscope K5 is a five-foot-tall autonomous robot (one presumes that its resemblance to a Dalek is merely coincidental) that roams around your […]
The Silent Hybrid Motorcycles the Pentagon Will Use for Stealth Raids
April 18th, 2014Via: Wired: Special Forces teams are all about silently penetrating remote areas and executing complex, lightning-fast raids. Now DARPA is developing a new vehicle to soundlessly race commandoes to their missions: stealthy, hybrid-powered motorcycles. The idea is to develop a hybrid power system that relies on both electric and gas power, allowing special ops to […]
TurboTax Maker Linked to ‘Grassroots’ Campaign Against Free, Simple Tax Filing
April 16th, 2014Via: ProPublica: Intuit and its allies are continuing to work against proposals for what’s known as return-free filing.
