Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Berlin Start-Up Aims to Revolutionize Clothes Shopping
November 21st, 2011Via: Spiegel: Two young Berlin entrepreneurs have an ingeniously simple idea for helping the clothing industry break through on the Internet. Their UPcload service measures people with a webcam more accurately than any person could. It could revolutionize shopping for clothes online — if the fashion industry cooperates.
Vast Surveillance System Tracks Everyone Driving Around Washington, D.C.
November 21st, 2011Via: Washington Post: An armed robber burst into a Northeast Washington market, scuffled with the cashier, and then shot him and the clerk’s father, who also owned the store. The killer sped off in a silver Pontiac, but a witness was able to write down the license plate number. Police figured out the name of […]
Protesters Use Spy Drones
November 21st, 2011Via: Wired: The proliferation of drones throughout the military — and into civilian law enforcement — can make it feel like we’re living in an airborne panopticon. But flying robots are agnostic about who they train their gaze upon, and can spy on cops as easily as they can spy on civilians. In the video […]
Congress Fears Chinese Telecom Gear May Phone Home
November 21st, 2011Like U.S. made gear? Via: Wired: Are telecommuniations deals with China good business — or a trojan horse for espionage? Some of Congress’ top intelligence officials are worried it’s the latter. And they’re launching an investigation to find out. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), and the […]
DARPA Wants to Collect ‘Physiological Signals’ at a Distance and Through Walls
November 20th, 2011Via: Office of the Secretary of Defense / DARPA: TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Information Systems, Biomedical, Electronics, Battlespace OBJECTIVE: Demonstrate the ability to collect, localize, and evaluate physiological signals (e.g., heart rate) at distances greater than 10 meters, non-line-of-sight, and through solid objects (walls, rock, concrete, etc.). DESCRIPTION: There is a need to remotely detect, collect, and […]
Foreign Hackers Targeted U.S. Water Plant in Apparent Malicious Cyber Attack
November 20th, 2011Related/Update: Hacker Says Texas Town Used Three Character Password To Secure Internet Facing SCADA System Via: Threat Post: In an e-mail interview with Threatpost, the hacker who compromised software used to manage water infrastructure for South Houston, Texas, said the district had HMI (human machine interface) software used to manage water and sewage infrastructure accessible […]
Judge Declares Law Governing Warrantless Cellphone Tracking Unconstitutional
November 19th, 2011The NSA smiles at the part in bold below. Via: Wall Street Journal: In a succinct one-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Lynn N. Hughes of the Southern District of Texas declared that the law authorizing the government to obtain cellphone records without a search warrant was unconstitutional. “The records would show the date, time, […]
A Conspiracy of Hogs: The McRib as Arbitrage
November 18th, 2011I have a special relationship with the McRib sandwich. Long ago, I had a friend who used to eat those things and the smell of them turned my stomach. He found my revulsion hilarious and he would taunt me by offering me some of the McRib, or blowing the putrid fumes my way. One time, […]
Pentagon Successfully Tests Hypersonic Flying Bomb
November 18th, 2011Via: AFP: The Pentagon on Thursday held a successful test flight of a flying bomb that travels faster than the speed of sound and will give military planners the ability to strike targets anywhere in the world in less than a hour. Launched by rocket from Hawaii at 1130 GMT, the “Advanced Hypersonic Weapon,” or […]
Many Android Phones Ship with Rootkit/Surveillance System Called ‘CarrierIQ’
November 17th, 2011Via: Android Security Test: Carrier IQ is able to query any metric from a device. A metric can be a dropped call because of lack of service. The scope of the word metric is very broad though, including device type, such as manufacturer and model, available memory and battery life, the type of applications resident […]
