Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Britain: Met Police Using Mass Surveillance System to Monitor Mobile Phones
October 31st, 2011Via: Guardian: Britain’s largest police force is operating covert surveillance technology that can masquerade as a mobile phone network, transmitting a signal that allows authorities to shut off phones remotely, intercept communications and gather data about thousands of users in a targeted area. The surveillance system has been procured by the Metropolitan police from Leeds-based […]
Syria Using U.S. Made Web Surveillance and Censorship Systems
October 29th, 2011These boxes are probably rooted by NSA. The Syrians are clueless enough to have allowed them to phone home, so, my guess is that Uncle is on board too. Via: Cnet: Blue Coat Systems has confirmed that its devices were being used by Syria to censor the Web and said it is investigating how they […]
Snake Oil Economic Models
October 29th, 2011Remember, this isn’t physics. —Gold Eyes Biggest 3-Day Fall In 28 Years This is hilarious. It reminds me of my experiences in trying to develop black box trading systems. It’s relatively easy, for example, to program an autotrading system for EURUSD that does extremely well on some finite chuck of historical data. Initially, I thought […]
And Now: The Rogue Websites Bill Introduced in U.S. House
October 27th, 2011The “Stop Online Piracy Act” would target foreign websites for take down. I wondered what this actually meant, from a technical perspective, so I gave the proposed legislation a very quick look. It turns out that the government wants to force U.S. Internet service providers to block access to the sites. There would be a […]
Nuclear and Military Data Stolen in Mitsubishi Network Attack
October 26th, 2011Via: Asahi: Sensitive information concerning vital defense equipment, such as fighter jets, as well as nuclear power plant design and safety plans, apparently was stolen from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. computers during a cyber-attack in August, sources said. An internal investigation found signs that the information had been transmitted outside the company’s computer network, with […]
Race Against the Machine
October 26th, 2011A few weeks ago, a reader sent me a gift, an ebook from Amazon. I don’t have a physical Kindle reader, so I downloaded the Kindle application for Windows and, in a few seconds, I was able to read the book. I went to look at the Amazon page for the book, A Zombie Prescription […]
Coming Soon: Web Ads That Use Your Webcam and Display Content Based on Biometric Data
October 24th, 2011Yeah, whatever, buddy. No webcam: Check. Multiple, independent filters prevent crap (by source and by type) from even reaching my computer in the first place: Check. Besides, what idiot would voluntarily allow an ad on a website to turn on his webcam? Give me a break. Wait. Never mind. Don’t answer that. Via: Economist: IMAGINE […]
Researchers Crack W3C Encryption Standard for XML
October 23rd, 2011Via: Ars Technica: There’s new reason to be leery about relying on Web-based services to handle sensitive data. A pair of German researchers revealed at the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security in Chicago this week that they have discovered a way to decrypt data within XML documents that have been encrypted using an […]
Some Parents Who Work for Elite Silicon Valley Firms Send Their Children to School with No Computers
October 23rd, 2011Via: New York Times: The chief technology officer of eBay sends his children to a nine-classroom school here. So do employees of Silicon Valley giants like Google, Apple, Yahoo and Hewlett-Packard. But the school’s chief teaching tools are anything but high-tech: pens and paper, knitting needles and, occasionally, mud. Not a computer to be found. […]
Hobby Humanoid Robot Rides Bicycle
October 23rd, 2011Via: Robosavvy: PRIMER-V2 is the name of a robot and his custom bike. Dr.Guero hooked a KHR3HV bipedal robot to a small bike. The robot pedals with his feet at variable speed. The steering is done by the robot hands as with a normal bike, and remote controled by a human. Stability is acheived by […]
