Archive for the 'Technology' Category
The British Airways ‘Know Me’ System
July 7th, 2012Via: Telegraph: British Airways staff will be able to identify customers by using a new computer system that searches Google to find images of them. Cabin crew and staff at check–in desks and first–class lounges will be equipped with technology to help them meet and greet selected travellers. The aim is to give the airline […]
Swarms of Maple Seed Drones
July 6th, 2012Via: Talking Points Memo: Imagine a cheap, tiny, hovering aerial drone capable of being launched with the flick of a person’s wrist and able to provide manipulable 360-degree surveillance views. It’s real, it’s inspired by maple seeds, and the company behind it, Lockheed Martin, envisions a future in which swarms of the new drones can […]
Three NSA Whistleblowers Back EFF’s Lawsuit Over Government’s Massive Spying Program
July 5th, 2012Via: Electronic Frontier Foundation: San Francisco – Three whistleblowers – all former employees of the National Security Agency (NSA) – have come forward to give evidence in the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF’s) lawsuit against the government’s illegal mass surveillance program, Jewel v. NSA. In a motion filed today, the three former intelligence analysts confirm that […]
Women Could Delay Menopause Indefinitely with Ovary Transplant
July 5th, 2012Or, the women can have it all crowd could figure out that they’re on a hamster wheel designed by vampire states to extract taxes from them while their children suffer the consequences. Via: Telegraph: A technique to remove pieces of ovary, store it for decades and then replace it with delicate surgery could effectively put […]
Feds Look to Fight Leaks With ‘Fog of Disinformation’
July 4th, 2012Via: Danger Room: Pentagon-funded researchers have come up with a new plan for busting leakers: Spot them by how they search, and then entice the secret-spillers with decoy documents that will give them away. Computer scientists call it it “Fog Computing” — a play on today’s cloud computing craze. And in a recent paper for […]
ACLU-NJ Launches Smartphone App That Lets Users Secretly Record Police Stops
July 4th, 2012Via: CBS: New Jersey’s branch of the American Civil Liberties Union has taken its mission of policing the police to smartphones. The ACLU has released an app called “Police Tape” that lets users secretly record police stops. The ACLU’s Alexander Shalom said the app is easy to use. “There’s really only three buttons that the […]
France Considering Making Those Who Own A Computer Screen But No Television Pay Up
July 3rd, 2012Via: Guardian: The French government is considering extending the television licence fee to include computer screen owners to boost revenues for public-sector broadcasting operations, the culture minister said on Saturday. President François Hollande’s Socialist government aims to raise an extra €7.5bn (£6bn) this year through tax rises included in an amended budget bill to be […]
Drone Makers Urge U.S. to Let Them Sell More Overseas
July 2nd, 2012Via: Los Angeles Times: Despite concerns about U.S.-made drones ending up in enemy hands, American military contractors are lobbying the government to loosen export restrictions and open up foreign markets to the unmanned aircraft that have reshaped modern warfare. Companies such as Northrop Grumman Corp.and other arms makers are eager to tap a growing foreign […]
Your Ebook Is Reading You
July 1st, 2012Via: Wall Street Journal: In the past, publishers and authors had no way of knowing what happens when a reader sits down with a book. Does the reader quit after three pages, or finish it in a single sitting? Do most readers skip over the introduction, or read it closely, underlining passages and scrawling notes […]
SWAT Team Throws Flashbangs, Raids Wrong Home Due to Open WiFi Network
June 29th, 2012Via: Ars Technica: The long-standing, heavily documented militarization of even small-town American police forces was always going to create problems when it met anonymous Internet threats. And so it has, again—this time in Evansville, Indiana, where officers acted on some Topix postings threatening violence against local police. They then sent an entire SWAT unit to […]
