Archive for the 'Technology' Category
‘Man Killed in Deadly Terror Attack in London Street’
May 23rd, 2013Friend of Adebolajo’s Arrested Via: AP: Nusaybah said Adebolajo became withdrawn after returning last year from a visit to Kenya, where he claimed he had been arrested and then abused both physically and sexually while in jail. Nusaybah claimed that Britain’s domestic spy agency, MI5, approached Adebolajo to recruit him upon his return to Britain […]
U.S. Special Forces Getting Constellation of Mini Satellites To ‘Hunt Down People Considered To Be Dangerous To The United States And Its Interests’
May 22nd, 2013Those birds should be busy when they fly over Washington, D.C. Oh. Wait. Via: Wired: In September, the U.S. government will fire into orbit a two-stage rocket from a Virginia launchpad. Officially, the mission is a scientific one, designed to improve America’s ability to send small satellites into space quickly and cheaply. But the launch […]
Florida: Police State Urban Week
May 22nd, 2013Via: CBS: Cameras, both mobile and stationary, have been installed throughout the city. Ready to be deployed throughout the city of Miami Beach are a total of 62 light towers, twelve visual messaging boards and three watch towers. Roughly 400 officers per shift from multiple agencies will pack the streets of Miami Beach. In addition […]
DARPA: Robotic Hand Strong Enough to Hold 50lb Weight, Dexterous Enough to Use Tweezers
May 22nd, 2013Via: DARPA: The ARM-H track of DARPA’s Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (ARM) program focuses on development of robust, low-cost and dexterous robotic hand hardware. DARPA funded performers to design and build hand mechanisms that could replace the claw-like hands currently used on robots with hands incorporating 3-4 fingers and useable palms. The teams successfully produced hands […]
3-D Printed Food?
May 22nd, 2013“So we eventually have to change our perception of what we see as food.” That’s hilarious, considering what already passes as food for a lot of people. I’ll take a pass, and continue slaughtering cows in my driveway. Oh! Funny story: Kids from a couple of dozen homeschooling families have a gymnastics class together once […]
Chinese Hackers Who Breached Google Gained Access to Data on U.S. Surveillance Targets
May 21st, 2013Via: Washington Post: Chinese hackers who breached Google’s servers several years ago gained access to a sensitive database with years’ worth of information about U.S. surveillance targets, according to current and former government officials. The breach appears to have been aimed at unearthing the identities of Chinese intelligence operatives in the United States who may […]
CALEA II: FBI Wants Backdoors In Secure Communications Tools
May 20th, 2013Via: Freedom to Tinker: Today I joined a group of twenty computer scientists in issuing a report criticizing an FBI plan to require makers of secure communication tools to redesign their systems to make wiretapping easy. We argue that the plan would endanger the security of U.S. users and the competitiveness of U.S. companies, without […]
Eldercare Robots?
May 20th, 2013Via: New York Times: Just like Frank, as the baby boomer generation grows old and if the number of elderly care workers fails to grow with it, many people might end up being cared for by robots. According to the Health and Human Services Department, there will be 72.1 million Americans over the age of […]
Funnel Shaped Wind Turbine
May 19th, 2013Via: Discovery: The Chaska, Minn.-based company Sheer Wind thinks it has a design that could bring the cost of wind power down to a price competitive with natural gas. Daryoush Allaei, Sheer Wind’s chief technical officer, told DNews that a utility-scale system of these wind turbines — that is a 100 to 500 MW power […]
U.S. Congress Restricts Government Purchase of Chinese Computer Equipment, Citing Cyber-Espionage Concerns
May 17th, 2013haha. Good luck with that. Via: The Verge: The latest US appropriations bill, signed into law just this week, includes a provision that is likely to further raise tensions between the country and China. The provision requires the Department of Justice, Department of Commerce, NASA, and the NSF to perform a formal assessment of risk […]
