Archive for the 'Technology' Category
China Has Space Tracking Station in Australia
November 7th, 2011Via: AFP / Space Daily: China has acquired a space tracking station in Australia, its first such facility in a close US ally, a report said Saturday. The station in remote Dongara, about 350 kilometres (217 miles) north of Perth in western Australia, was used during Tuesday’s launch of the Shenzhou VIII mission, Hong Kong […]
‘Socialbots’ Invade Facebook: Cull 250GB of Private Data
November 5th, 2011Via: PC World: Facebook was recently invaded by a robot army created by four researchers to demonstrate the ease at which online social networks can be maliciously exploited by the unscrupulous. With a horde of 102 bogus Facebook friends, the University of British Columbia researchers showed that they could harvest personal information on members not […]
CIA’s Vengeful Librarians
November 5th, 2011Here’s one for your Complete Lack of Surprise file folder. Via: AP: In an anonymous industrial park in Virginia, in an unassuming brick building, the CIA is following tweets — up to 5 million a day. At the agency’s Open Source Center, a team known affectionately as the “vengeful librarians” also pores over Facebook, newspapers, […]
Apple to Require Sandboxing in Mac App Store Apps in March 2012
November 4th, 2011The iOSification of OSX is now fully underway. How long will it be before every executable on the platform requires Apple’s blessing? —Post About Apple OS X Lion Steve Jobs, the pioneer of the computer as a jail made cool, designed to sever fools from their freedom, has died. As Chicago Mayor Harold Washington said […]
Cordon Multi-Target Photo-Radar System
November 1st, 2011Via: Engadget: Go easy on the gas, Speed Racer, because Cordon is on its way. Developed by Simicon, this new speed sensor promises to take highway surveillance to new heights of precision. Unlike most photo radar systems, which track only one violator at a time, Simicon’s device can simultaneously identify and follow up to 32 […]
BostonDynamics PETMAN
November 1st, 2011This is SciFi: And this is… not SciFi: PETMAN is an anthropomorphic robot developed by Boston Dynamics for testing special clothing used by the US Army. PETMAN balances itself as it walks, squats and does simple calisthenics. PETMAN simulates human physiology by controlling temperature, humidity and sweating inside the clothing to provide realistic test conditions. […]
EU Mulls Biometric Borders
October 31st, 2011Via: Planet Biometrics: The European Commission has adopted a Communication which sets out the main options for using new technologies, such as biometrics, to simplify life for foreigners frequently travelling to the EU and to better monitor third-country nationals crossing the borders. Enabling smooth and fast border crossing for travellers, while ensuring an adequate level […]
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 […]
