Archive for the 'Technology' Category
‘What will the millions of middle-age, unskilled workers do when they are displaced by technology?’
February 19th, 2012My guess is that something like this will be part of the answer: Engineered H5N1: A Rare Time for Restraint in Science: Two scientific teams have recently engineered the H5N1 virus to make it readily transmissible between ferrets. Given that ferrets are considered the most reliable animal surrogate for human influenza infection, the newly engineered […]
FOIA Request Shows Which Printer Companies Cooperated With U.S. Government
February 18th, 2012Via: Slashdot: Easy enough to avoid government dots; just don’t buy printers from Canon, Brother, Casio, HP, Konica, Minolta, Mita, Ricoh, Sharp, or Xerox.
Nevada Approves Regulations for Self-Driving Cars
February 18th, 2012Via: CBS: Nevada is envisioning a day when taxicabs might shuttle fares without a driver, or people with medical conditions that make them ineligible for a license could get around with a virtual chauffeur. The concept took a big step when Nevada became the first state to approve regulations that spell out requirements for companies […]
Animal Rights Group Says Drone Shot Down
February 18th, 2012Via: The Times and Democrat: A remote-controlled aircraft owned by an animal rights group was reportedly shot down near Broxton Bridge Plantation Sunday. Steve Hindi, president of SHARK (SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness), said his group was preparing to launch its Mikrokopter drone to video what he called a live pigeon shoot on Sunday when […]
Lawmaker Demands DHS Cease Monitoring of Blogs, Social Media
February 17th, 2012This social media monitoring program is an absurd limited hangout. Where’s the outrage over things like MAIN CORE and Room 641A? Via: Wired: Rep. Jackie Speier (D-California) said Thursday she wants the Department of Homeland Security to cease its social-media and news-monitoring operation. Speaking at a Homeland Security subcommittee hearing, the California lawmaker said she […]
‘As soon as we get them buying diapers from us, they’re going to start buying everything else too.’
February 17th, 2012Via: New York Times: Andrew Pole had just started working as a statistician for Target in 2002, when two colleagues from the marketing department stopped by his desk to ask an odd question: “If we wanted to figure out if a customer is pregnant, even if she didn’t want us to know, can you do […]
Members of UK Parliament Recommend Censoring Online ‘Extremism’
February 17th, 2012Via: Electronic Frontier Foundation: In a report published last week, members of the United Kingdom Parliament concluded that the Internet plays a major role in the radicalization of terrorists and called on the government to pressure Internet Service Providers in Britain and abroad to censor online speech. The Roots of Violent Radicalisation places the Internet […]
Food Project Proposes Matrix-Style Vertical Chicken Farms
February 17th, 2012There’s a fair amount of freak-out occurring over this, but as far as I can tell, this is an art project that attempts to draw attention to the ghastly nature of current industrial poultry production methods. Oh yeah, I had an, “Oh shit,” moment when I checked out the pictures of the growth pods (which […]
India: Government Will Track Positions of All Mobile Phone Users
February 16th, 2012Via: The Indian Express: The government is looking to track all mobile phone users. As per amendments made to operators’ licences, beginning May 31, operators would have to provide the Department of Telecommunications real-time details of users’ locations in latitudes and longitudes. Documents obtained by The Indian Express show that details shall initially be provided […]
The Pentagon’s $51 Billion ‘Black’ Budget
February 16th, 2012If you find this Wired piece interesting, definitely check out, Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon’s Secret World by Trevor Paglen. As an outsider, Paglen has no access to the black world, but he sort of feels around the edges of it and you really start to get a sense […]
