Archive for the 'Technology' Category
For More And More Companies, The Hiring Boss Is An Algorithm
September 21st, 2012Via: Wall Street Journal: When looking for workers to staff its call centers, Xerox Corp. used to pay lots of attention to applicants who had done the job before. Then, a computer program told the printer and outsourcing company that experience doesn’t matter. The software said that what does matter in a good call-center worker—one […]
Rethink Robotics
September 20th, 2012Via: IEEE: Whereas traditional industrial robots perform one specific task with superhuman speed and precision, Baxter is neither particularly fast nor particularly precise. But it excels at just about any job that involves picking stuff up and putting it down somewhere else while simultaneously adapting to changes in its environment, like a misplaced part or […]
DARPA’s Mentats: EEG Data Used for Threat Detection
September 20th, 2012During a recent email conversation about a related technology with a friend of mine, who, shall we say, knows more than a little about this subject, he wrote something that you might find interesting: Interesting approach. It sounds like they’ve given up on computers processing images and instead they’re trying to create a mentat. Maybe […]
iTravel: Apple’s Secret Plan to Join iPhones with Airport Security
September 20th, 2012If you have been waiting for a good one for the top of your Not-The-Onion pile, this is it. Via: CNN: Apple is releasing a mobile wallet app called Passbook which could lead to some of the ideas suggested in these iTravel patent schematics, which were submitted in 2008. The patent was granted last July. […]
Warp Drive Might Be Possible
September 19th, 2012Via: Space: A warp drive to achieve faster-than-light travel — a concept popularized in television’s Star Trek — may not be as unrealistic as once thought, scientists say. A warp drive would manipulate space-time itself to move a starship, taking advantage of a loophole in the laws of physics that prevent anything from moving faster […]
Cyber Clues Link U.S. to New Computer Viruses
September 18th, 2012Via: Reuters: Researchers have found evidence suggesting that the United States may have developed three previously unknown computer viruses for use in espionage operations or cyber warfare. … For now, the two firms know very little about the newly identified viruses, except that one of them is currently deployed in the Middle East. They are […]
‘There are no technological or economic barriers to converting the entire world to clean, renewable energy sources’
September 15th, 2012“Fifteen years ago I thought solar power was impractical because I thought nuclear power was the answer. But I spent some time on an advisory committee on waste disposal to the Atomic Energy Commission. After that, I began to be very, very skeptical because of the hazards. That’s when I began to study solar power. […]
New Cameras to Watch Cameras That Watch You
September 14th, 2012This practice is common in Britain. Via: WTOP: Many people find speed cameras frustrating, and some in the region are taking their rage out on the cameras themselves. But now there’s a new solution: cameras to watch the cameras. One is already in place, and Prince George’s County Police Maj. Robert V. Liberati hopes to […]
House Approves Sweeping, Warrantless Electronic Spy Powers
September 13th, 2012Via: Wired: The House on Wednesday reauthorized for five years broad electronic eavesdropping powers that legalized and expanded the George W. Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. The FISA Amendments Act, (.pdf) which is expiring at year’s end, allows the government to electronically eavesdrop on Americans’ phone calls and e-mails without a probable-cause warrant so long […]
Russian Nuclear-Powered Ice-Breakers
September 12th, 2012Via: Scientific American: Russia’s dream to dominate the Arctic will soon get a boost with a nuclear-powered icebreaker designed to navigate both shallow rivers and the freezing depths of the Northern Sea. Last month Rosatomflot, Russia’s atomic fleet, inked a deal to begin construction of a massive new vessel 170 meters long and 34 meters […]
