Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Stanford Bioengineer Develops a 50-Cent Paper Microscope
March 11th, 2014Via: Stanford: When Manu Prakash, PhD, wants to impress lab visitors with the durability of his Origami-based paper microscope, he throws it off a three-story balcony, stomps on it with his foot and dunks it into a water-filled beaker. Miraculously, it still works. Even more amazing is that this microscope — a bookmark-sized piece of […]
Disney Bets $1 Billion on Technology to Track Theme-Park Visitors
March 10th, 2014Via: Bloomberg: Jason McInerney and his wife, Melissa, recently tapped their lunch orders onto a touchscreen at the entrance to the Be Our Guest restaurant at Florida’s Walt Disney World Resort and were told to take any open seat. Moments later a food server appeared at their table with their croque-monsieur and carved turkey sandwiches. […]
Commercial Drone Operations in U.S. Airspace Are Legal, Rules Federal Judge
March 7th, 2014Via: Drone Hire: The long stand-off between commercial drone operators and the FAA has just taken an extraordinary twist: A federal judge has rejected the FAA’s ban as unenforceable, ruling that commercial use of drones in the United States is unequivocally legal.
College Grads Taking Low-Wage Jobs Displace Less Educated
March 7th, 2014Via: Bloomberg: Jeanina Jenkins, a 20-year-old high-school graduate from St. Louis, is stuck in a $7.82-an-hour part-time job at McDonald’s Corp. that she calls a “last resort” because nobody would offer her anything better. Stephen O’Malley, 26, a West Virginia University graduate, wants to put his history degree to use teaching high school. What he’s […]
MIT’s Liquid Metal Batteries Could Compensate for Intermittent Nature of Renewable Energy
March 7th, 2014Via: Bloomberg: A 40-foot trailer loaded with 25 tons of liquid metals may be the solution to the renewable-energy industry’s biggest challenge: making sure electricity is available whenever it’s needed. A Boston-area startup founded by MIT researchers is working to turn this new concept into a commercially viable product, liquid-metal batteries that will store power […]
The E-Waste Disaster in Ghana
March 7th, 2014Via: Kevin McElvaney:
Satoshi Nakamoto, Creator of Bitcoin, Has “Done Classified Work for Major Corporations and the U.S. Military”
March 6th, 2014Update: Nakamoto Now Claims, “I Never Was Involved” Via: Los Angeles Times: The day started with a possible answer to one of the digital era’s greatest mysteries: Who created the bitcoin virtual currency that has become a multibillion-dollar global phenomenon? From there, with the unlikely revelation by Newsweek magazine that it might be Dorian Satoshi […]
Windows XP Market Share Climbs Again as Customers Dig Their Heels In
March 5th, 2014Just about everyone I know with XP won’t budge, despite my warnings. Maybe Microsoft has plans to try to convert millions of XP users over to Windows 8 with the rumored Windows 8.1 with Bing, which will supposedly be free. Still, tens of millions of people will probably refuse to deal with the situation. I […]
Facebook Drones to Battle Google Balloons in the War of Airborne Internet
March 5th, 2014Via: Wired: The race for the airborne internet is on. According to multiple reports, Facebook is in talks to buy a drone maker whose solar-powered aircraft could operate as high-altitude wireless hot spots, circling in the stratosphere for years without refueling. That may seem far-fetched, but it’s not entirely surprising in the context of today’s […]
A Vast Hidden Surveillance Network Runs Across America, Powered by the Repo Industry
March 5th, 2014It’s not just law enforcement running those license plate scanners. This is absolutely nuts. Via: BetaBoston: Few notice the “spotter car” from Manny Sousa’s repo company as it scours Massachusetts parking lots, looking for vehicles whose owners have defaulted on their loans. Sousa’s unmarked car is part of a technological revolution that goes well beyond […]
