Archive for the 'Technology' Category
‘Unprecedented’ Problems with Bank of America’s Web Site
October 6th, 2011Customers closing accounts after the announcement of the $5 per month EFT card fee? There’s a bit of a movement underway to let Bank of America know how customers feel about that $5 fee. People are either emptying their accounts of funds, or closing their accounts completely. I’m very happy to say that my balance […]
Geek Fight Club
October 5th, 2011Uppercut from California is a place. on Vimeo.
Introducing Siri: DARPA’s Ghost in Apple’s Machine
October 5th, 2011So their eyes are growing hazy cos they want to turn it on so their minds are soft and lazy, well… give em what they want —10,000 Maniacs – Candy Everybody Wants One of the stocks that I used to kick around in the 1990s was that of a now long dead company called General […]
SSL Was Broken by Design
October 4th, 2011Via: Cryptome: So how was it that Netscape SSL had exactly the same faults as IPsec, ISAKMP, Oakley, IKE? Political pressure! Somebody really REALLY wanted to be able track users and intercept/substitute…. Do I have proof? No, it’s merely circumstantial. Also, my multi-year FBI personal investigation over PPP CHAP was coincidental, too. Netscape caved, for […]
Internet Firms Co-Opted for Surveillance
October 2nd, 2011Via: Reuters: Internet companies such as Google, Twitter and Facebook are increasingly co-opted for surveillance work as the information they gather proves irresistible to law enforcement agencies, Web experts said this week. … Demands from governments for Internet companies to hand over user information have become routine, according to online privacy researcher and activist Christopher […]
Boston Dynamics’ AlphaDog Quadruped Robot Prototype
October 1st, 2011Via: ieee Spectrum: …those weights that AlphaDog is carrying in a few of the clips weigh a total of 400 pounds (180 kilograms), and the robot will be able to carry that load up to 20 miles (30 kilometers) over the course of 24 hours without having to refuel.
Sunlight Falling On Catalyst-Coated Silicon Wafer Splits Water Into Hydrogen and Oxygen
October 1st, 2011This is nowhere near viable, but it’s definitely interesting. Via: Massachusetts Institute of Technology / YouTube: An “artificial leaf” made by Daniel Nocera and his team, using a silicon solar cell with novel catalyst materials bonded to its two sides, is shown in a container of water with light (simulating sunlight) shining on it. The […]
Police Device Used To Steal Your Cell Phone Data During Traffic Stop
September 30th, 2011Via: AOL Autos: You may have heard about the Cellebrite cell phone extraction device (UFED) in the news lately. It gives law enforcement officials the ability to access all the information on your cell phone within a few short minutes. When it became known that Michigan State Police had been using the tool to access […]
Rare Earth Elements: ‘Demand Destruction’
September 30th, 2011This is a pretty good article that goes into several reasons for the price declines; speculators selling, companies finding alternative materials, companies re-designing products, recycling and others. Via: Bloomberg: Rare-earth prices are set to extend their decline from records this year as buyers including Toyota Motor Corp. and General Electric Co. scale back using the […]
A Japanese Response to Nuclear Disaster: The Smartphone that Measures Radiation
September 30th, 2011Via: Telegraph: A mobile phone that doubles as a radiation detector? If there is one country that can pull off (and sell) such a device, it’s Japan. A leading Japanese telecommunications company will unveil a smartphone next week that also acts as a radiation dosimeter to help users detect potential contamination. In Japan, it’s a […]
