Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Egypt: Divers Caught Cutting Internet Cable
March 29th, 2013Via: Global Post: Egypt’s naval forces caught three scuba divers officials say were trying to cut an undersea internet cable in the Mediterranean on Wednesday. In a statement on his official Facebook page, Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said divers were arrested while “cutting the undersea cable” of Egypt’s main communications company, Telecom Egypt. “The armed […]
BionicOpter: Festo’s Giant Robotic Dragonfly
March 29th, 2013Via: Canadian Manufacturing: Building on the work of last year’s bionic creation, the Smart Bird, Festo announced that it will literally launch its latest creation, the BionicOpter, at Hannover Messe in April. With a wingspan of 63 cm and weighing in at 175 grams, the robotic dragonfly mimics all forms of flight as its natural […]
Obama’s Crackdown on Whistleblowers and the NSA-SAIC-Trailblazer Fraud
March 29th, 2013Via: The Nation: In the annals of national security, the Obama administration will long be remembered for its unprecedented crackdown on whistleblowers. Since 2009, it has employed the World War I–era Espionage Act a record six times to prosecute government officials suspected of leaking classified information. The latest example is John Kiriakou, a former CIA […]
Navy Wants Lasers on Marines’ Trucks to Shoot Down Drones
March 29th, 2013Via: Wired: If there was any doubt that the military has new confidence in its forthcoming laser arsenal, the Navy’s top geeks want to outfit Marines with a laser cannon to shoot small drones out of the sky. Specifically, the Office of Naval Research thinks that Marine air-ground task forces are too vulnerable to adversaries […]
Location Data Can Uniquely Identify Cellphone Users
March 28th, 2013Via: Popular Science: Just a few data points from a location-tracking cellphone are enough to identify most people, a new study found. It doesn’t matter if those data are “anonymized” so they aren’t linked to any identifiers such as address or phone number. Just four random points are enough to put names to 95 percent […]
Appeasing The Dictator, 140 Characters At A Time: Twitter Censors Content Within Russia
March 28th, 2013Via: PJ Media: If you have been following the Internet crackdown underway in Russia, you will not be surprised to learn that Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin has recruited many websites — which are either terrified of his wrath or interested in currying his favor — to help crush and eradicate criticism of his government online. However, […]
FBI Wants Real-Time Gmail, Dropbox Spying Power
March 28th, 2013Via: Slate: Despite the pervasiveness of law enforcement surveillance of digital communication, the FBI still has a difficult time monitoring Gmail, Google Voice, and Dropbox in real time. But that may change soon, because the bureau says it has made gaining more powers to wiretap all forms of Internet conversation and cloud storage a “top […]
The Robot Reality: Service Jobs Are Next to Go
March 27th, 2013Via: CNBC: If you meet Baxter, the latest humanoid robot from Rethink Robotics – you should get comfortable with him, because you’ll likely be seeing more of him soon. Rethink Robotics released Baxter last fall and received an overwhelming response from the manufacturing industry, selling out of their production capacity through April. He’s cheap to […]
‘This Isn’t Ready for Prime Time’: Brain Scans Predict Which Criminals Are More Likely to Reoffend
March 27th, 2013Via: Nature: In a twist that evokes the dystopian science fiction of writer Philip K. Dick, neuroscientists have found a way to predict whether convicted felons are likely to commit crimes again from looking at their brain scans. Convicts showing low activity in a brain region associated with decision-making and action are more likely to […]
And Now… Video Game Urinals
March 27th, 2013Via: U.S. News and World Report: A minor league baseball team in Pennsylvania will become the first professional sports franchise to offer urine-controlled video games in its restrooms when the season starts in April. Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley IronPigs will debut the “Urinal Gaming System” in its men’s bathrooms—the custom urinals feature a “pee controlled” video […]
