Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Windows 8 Users, Help Me Understand Something
October 31st, 2012Windows 8 is meant to be used with a touchscreen. I haven’t seen any reviews that recommend Windows 8 for non-touchscreen users. The overwhelming opinion is that Windows 8 might be usable on traditional display, keyboard and mouse systems, given enough practice, but you’d be in for a shock if you think that your experience […]
Most U.S. Drones Openly Broadcast Secret Video Feeds
October 30th, 2012Via: Wired: Four years after discovering that militants were tapping into drone video feeds, the U.S. military still hasn’t secured the transmissions of more than half of its fleet of Predator and Reaper drones, Danger Room has learned. The majority of the aircraft still broadcast their classified video streams “in the clear” — without encryption. […]
U.S. Navy Tests Armed Drone Boat
October 28th, 2012Via: Wired: Killer robots have officially gone out to sea. For the first time, the Navy has fired missiles from a remote-controlled boat, as shown in the video above. The firing came as part of a test off the Maryland coast on Wednesday. Six of Rafael’s anti-armor Spike missiles got fired off a moving inflatable […]
GNUs Trick-or-Treat at Windows 8 Launch
October 28th, 2012There were lines of people waiting to buy Windows 8??? Via: Free Software Foundation: Yesterday morning, the Free Software Foundation crashed the Windows 8 launch event in New York City. A cheerful GNU and her team handed out DVDs loaded with Trisquel, FSF stickers, and information about our new pledge, which asks Windows users to […]
World’s Most Powerful Laser Beams to Zap Nuclear Waste, Cure Cancer [???]
October 27th, 2012Via: Bloomberg: The European Union will spend about 700 million euros ($900 million) to build the world’s most powerful lasers, technology that could destroy nuclear waste and provide new cancer treatments. The Extreme Light Infrastructure project has obtained funding for two lasers to be built in the Czech Republic and Romania, Shirin Wheeler, spokeswoman for […]
Surveillance Cameras and ‘Activity Forecasting’
October 27th, 2012Via: Cnet: Computer software programmed to detect and report illicit behavior could eventually replace the fallible humans who monitor surveillance cameras. The U.S. government has funded the development of so-called automatic video surveillance technology by a pair of Carnegie Mellon University researchers who disclosed details about their work this week — including that it has […]
China Unicom Replaces Cisco Devices Over Security Concerns
October 27th, 2012Via: Morning Whistle: China Unicom has replaced Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ.CSCO) in one of the country’s most important backbone networks, citing security reasons, the 21st Century Business Herald reported. The replacement project targets “China169,” Cisco’s backbone network router of Wuxi node, in Jiangsu province. Analysts indicated that the product vulnerability and back door problems are […]
Android on More Devices than Windows in 2016
October 26th, 2012Via: Reuters: Google’s Android operating system will be used on more computing devices than Microsoft’s Windows within four years, data from research firm Gartner showed on Wednesday, underlining the massive shift in the technology sector. At the end of 2016, there will be 2.3 billion computers, tablets and smartphones using Android software, compared with 2.28 […]
SSL Vulnerabilities Found in Critical Non-Browser Software Packages
October 26th, 2012Via: Threat Post: The death knell for SSL is getting louder. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Stanford University have discovered that poorly designed APIs used in SSL implementations are to blame for vulnerabilities in many critical non-browser software packages. Serious security vulnerabilities were found in programs such as Amazon’s EC2 Java […]
With ‘Safe Haven,’ Desktop Weaponeers Resume Work on 3D-Printed Guns
October 25th, 2012Via: Wired: Three weeks after a group of desktop gunsmiths had its leaded 3D printer seized by the digital manufacturing firm that owned it, the weaponeers have quietly restarted plans to build a gun entirely of printed parts. The group has also begun expanding their operation with outside help, including space for ballistics testing provided […]
