Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Aaron H. Swartz: One of Three Reddit Co-Founders Committed Suicide
January 12th, 2013Via: MIT – The Tech: Computer activist Aaron H. Swartz committed suicide in New York City yesterday, Jan. 11, according to his uncle, Michael Wolf, in a comment to The Tech. Swartz was 26. “The tragic and heartbreaking information you received is, regrettably, true,” confirmed Swartz’ attorney, Elliot R. Peters of Kecker and Van Nest, […]
U.S. Funds Lab to Look for Solutions to Rare Earth Mineral Shortages
January 10th, 2013Via: Network World: With China once again playing games with the rare earth materials it largely holds sway over, the US Department of Energy today said it would set up a research and development hub that will bring together all manner of experts to help address the situation. The DOE awarded $120 million to Ames […]
Nokia Admits Decrypting User Data But Denies Man-in-the-Middle Attacks
January 10th, 2013Via: Tech Week Europe: Nokia has rejected claims it might be spying on users’ encrypted Internet traffic, but admitted it is intercepting and temporarily decrypting HTTPS connections for the benefit of customers. A security professional alleged Nokia was carrying out so-called man-in-the-middle attacks on its own users. Gaurang Pandya, currently infrastructure security architect at Unisys […]
Disney World to Track Visitors with Wireless Wristbands
January 9th, 2013Via: NBC: New wireless-tracking wristbands designed to make the “Most Magical Place on Earth” even more hassle-free will hit Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., over the next few months. The “MagicBands” will be linked to customers’ credit-card information and function as room keys and park entry passes, thanks to radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips, which […]
Stephen Hawking ‘More Machine Now Than Man’
January 9th, 2013This article is great for those considering enrolling in Ph.D. programs. While the example of Hawking twitching his eyebrow to set swarms of minions aflutter with activity might seem extreme, this is actually the essence of the graduate school experience for many. Your adviser probably won’t be a cyborg, but my guess is that this […]
Linguistics Identifies Anonymous Users
January 9th, 2013See also: How Unique – and Trackable – Is Your Browser? Software Can Identify You from Your Browsing Habits The Ugly Truth About Online Anonymity Via: SC Magazine: Up to 80 percent of certain anonymous underground forum users can be identified using linguistics, researchers say. The techniques compare user posts to track them across forums […]
Unwitting Sensors: How DoD is Exploiting Social Media
January 7th, 2013Via: Defense News: On any given day, 400 million short messages are typed or thumbed onto Twitter, and that’s just a fraction of the total communications sent through a social media universe that includes Facebook, Google+, chat rooms, bulletin boards and many other electronic forums. The messages are as diverse as all the conversations in […]
‘New Weight Loss Gadget Sucks Food Straight Out of the Stomach’
January 7th, 2013Wow. Maybe they can somehow form the slurry into delicious and nutritious chow pellets. Which could… You know… No? Via: Independent: Who would have thought that the future of weight loss might lie in the hands of the inventor of the Segway? Dean Kamen, creator of the two-wheeled wonder, along with a team from Aspire […]
Mystery Google Device Appears in Small-Town Iowa
January 7th, 2013This is a few months old. Google has created some very unusual networking hardware for use in their datacenters. Some of this gear had been delivered to outsiders by mistake and information about it wound up on a networking equipment bulletin board. My guess is that these switches might contain application specific silicon which would […]
Intraoperative Recall: The Perplexing Phenomenon of People Who ‘Awaken’ Under General Anesthesia
January 6th, 2013Via: The Atlantic: While subduing consciousness is the most urgent aspect of Tononi’s work, he is especially animated when discussing consciousness in its fullest, brightest state. In his office in Madison, he described a hypothetical device called a “qualiascope” that could visualize consciousness the same way telescopes visualize light waves, or thermal goggles visualize heat. […]
